ACR essay. By Iuliia Gorodyska

Argument	Counterargument	Rebuttal
Subsidiarity enables civic participation.	Having an underdeveloped political culture, citizens in Ukraine will not take part in local decision making.	Subsidiarity creates fruitful conditions to enforce human rights and foster civic participation.
Subsidiarity is basis for necessary decentralization of power.	It means federalization, which poses a threat of splitting Ukraine.	Subsidiarity does not mean federalization. Not all European countries are federal, but all hold on principle of subsidiarity. It will balance region development in Ukraine.
Subsidiarity is important for the EU integration.	Ukraine has to solve a wide range of other important problems rather than it.	This will foster solving of other problems because resources will be distributed more effectively.

ACR Essay. By Iuliia Gorodyska

The principle of subsidiarity should be applied in Ukraine

The principle of subsidiarity is an idea that emerged from Catholic thought and widely opposes the idea of centralization of power. Subsidiarity means that decisions are to be made “as closely as possible to the citizen and that constant checks are made to verify that action”[1] to ensure effectiveness in achieving public objectives. Subsidiarity enables civic participation; it is the basis for necessary decentralization of power; and it is a crucial factor of European integration of Ukraine. So, subsidiarity principle should be broadly applied in Ukraine.

Applying subsidiarity would offer Ukrainian civil society many possibilities to participate in decision making process more widely than it does now. According to subsidiarity, local authorities should be smaller and their competencies are to be limited. Those responsible for decision making are easier to find, so they can be always controlled and must be transparent in their activity. In that way, public opinion is more likely to be taken into account which means that all citizens would now be conscious of their personal role in the state. It should be admitted that weak political culture of Ukrainian society could possibly pose certain burdens to development of subsidiarity, as citizens may not be active in local decision making process and may be indifferent to current communal problems. This negligence could menace any normal functioning of the state. However, subsidiarity is developed to establish fruitful conditions for enforcing fundamental human rights for participation and inclusion, as written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[2], which Ukraine is committed to. Possibility to realize own rights would undoubtedly foster civic participation and cultivate citizens’ awareness and interest in public life. 

Another reason for subsidiarity principle to be implemented in Ukraine is the demand to decentralize political power. In 2013, budget distribution among Ukrainian regions is disproportional, as some regions profit more than the others. This occurred as a result of not taking into account opinion of local self-government[3]. Therefore, decentralization and greater reliance on local self-government according to subsidiarity is required. Some people might say that decentralization might have as a consequence federalization of Ukraine; and some politicians have been constantly exploiting this opinion to threat the possible split of the state. But nothing could be further from the truth, for subsidiarity does not mean federalization. Most of the European Union countries are unitary states; nevertheless, all of them are committed to the principle of subsidiarity. Decentralization would, on the contrary, balance region development in Ukraine.

Finally, subsidiarity is an important principle for a country willing to integrate into the European Union. Being a member of Council of Europe, Ukraine already signed European Charter of Local Self-Government[4], but it is still not enough to normatively enshrine the principle of subsidiarity. Some doubts may arise from those who claim that this issue is far from central in European integration of Ukraine. The country has other problems to solve as poor economic wealth, political instability, and political persecutions. However, it is the subsidiarity that encourage smart solutions by delegating decision making to different levels according to problem complexity. That is why such issues as European integration will only profit from Ukraine’s commitment to handle subsidiary.

To sum up, subsidiarity principle should be applied in Ukraine to foster civil society participation, to decentralize political power and balance the regions’ development, and to effectively integrate into the European Union.

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[1] The EU Glossary. Subsidiarity. - Available from: <http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/subsidiarity_en.htm>. – Title from the screen. Access on 25.02.13.

[2] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. - Available from: <http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml> - Title from the screen. Access on 25.02.13.

[3] Економічна правда. Асоціація міст каже, що розподіл коштів серед регіонів "неадекватний". – Available from: <http://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2012/12/23/352215/>. – Title from the screen.  Access on 25.02.13.

[4] Chart of signatures and ratifications. European Charter of Local Self-Government. – Title from the screen. – Available from: <http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=122&CM=1&DF=&CL=ENG>. – Title from the screen.  Access on 25.02.13.