EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES IN THE SYSTEM OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT – NECESSITY OR ATAVISM

Abstract

The article analyzes the feasibility of maintaining the executive committees of councils as collegial bodies in the system of local self-government bodies. However, reviewing the appropriateness of some of them - as executive committees of local councils - is an urgent problem. It is noted that today there are no special comprehensive studies that reveal the functioning of these bodies. There is a need to clearly clarify the place, role and significance of the executive bodies in the system of public administration, which led to the choice of topic and direction of research in this article. The general problem is overcoming obstacles in the process of creating conditions for the preparation and adoption of effective management decisions. The powers of the executive bodies of local councils were considered and analyzed in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine”. Based on the analysis, it can be stated that the executive committee, occupying a central place in the system of executive bodies of the local council, at the same time is a body for the collegial decision of issues within its competence. When the Stalinist Constitution of the USSR was adopted in 1936, all councils received the status of local self-government bodies, but the actual management at the level of territorial communities in Ukraine was carried out by local party organizations. It was noted that the last role in this system of proclaimed self-government, which was strictly limited by party control, was played by the executive committees of the councils, which consisted mainly of the local party nomenklatura. The nature of the executive committee as a tool for implementing the decisions of local councils has changed radically. A careful study of the structure of local governments in European countries suggests that almost all European countries have one collegial body - the Council of Deputies. The article states that the executive committee performs today all the functions that are performed by the standing commissions of the council and even much wider. A study of the provisions and regulations of the executive committees of Lutsk, Kryvyi Rih, and Lviv city councils suggests that most such local regulations are interpreted by the executive committee as the executive body of the city council, although in reality it is not. An analysis of the powers of local councils and the executive committees of these councils suggests that the scope of powers of the executive committee is broader than the powers of the council.