Mechanisms of Administrative and Territorial Reform During the Power Decentralization Process in Ukraine

The European integration processes in Ukraine contributed to the gradual reform and change of the administrative-territorial structure to comply with European standards. Article aims - determine the administrative and territorial structure reforming mechanisms during the power decentralization process in Ukraine. The study reveals the effectiveness of administrative-territorial reform mechanisms during the first decentralization period of 20142019. During the decentralization process, an effective organizational and legal mechanism was created in Ukraine, which included the formation of the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine and the functioning within it of the Task Force of reforms on decentralization, local self-government, and regional policy. Within the framework of the developed normative-legal field, the financial mechanism of formation of communities as the basic units of local government was determined, which ensured the development of the new institutional unit and its infrastructure. Within the framework of the organizational and legal mechanism, a methodology of formation and criteria for the ability of joint territorial communities to achieve the goals of socio-economic development was formed. In addition, the legal framework became the basis for the community cooperation mechanism formation. The work of the Task Force of reforms was strengthened by a team of experts on administrative reform, legal support, several projects of international organizations, which provided information and advisory support to local self-government bodies. An important element of the reform mechanism was information technology that promoted accountability and openness of the reform as part of the introduction of e-democracy in Ukraine.