Transformation of the regulatory framework for state regulation of interregional cooperation in Ukraine

Abstract

Research questions and hypotheses. The article addresses the fundamental scientific problem of institutional and legal inefficiency of traditional administrative mechanisms of state regulation of spatial development in the context of unprecedented geo-economic and security turbulence. The main research question is to determine the extent to which the current regulatory framework is able to stimulate horizontal economic and managerial integration between territorial communities of different macro-regions during the active phase of post-war recovery and accelerated European integration of Ukraine. The main hypothesis of the study is based on a well-founded assumption that maintaining a hierarchical, vertically integrated model of public administration and rigid budgetary centralization at the level of macro-regional projects significantly slows down the implementation of the innovative European approach of smart specialization. Therefore, it is critically necessary to legally secure the transition of the domestic system to the paradigm of New Public Governance, where institutionalized interregional cooperation acts as the most flexible tool for equalizing spatial development asymmetry and ensuring long-term national economic resilience.

Data. The empirical and regulatory basis of the study consists exclusively of the current legislative acts of Ukraine (in particular, framework laws on state regional policy, cooperation of territorial communities, the Budget Code of Ukraine), normative documents on regional development strategy, as well as verified scientific publications of domestic and international experts regarding the practical activities of specialized regional development agencies and the implementation of innovative management tools.

Research methods. To achieve the goal and test the hypothesis, a comprehensive methodological toolkit based on the neo-institutional approach was applied. The historical and legal method was used to trace the evolution of domestic legislation in the field of regional policy since the beginning of decentralization; formal legal and semantic analysis – to deconstruct key legal definitions and eliminate terminological conflicts; systemic-structural and comparative legal methods – for a deep comparison of domestic legal norms with modern European standards of network governance.

Research results. As a result of a comprehensive analysis, the institutional limitation of the current mechanisms of state regulation of interregional interaction is scientifically proven. Key regulatory conflicts have been identified, in particular in the field of intergovernmental transfers and mechanisms for joint multi-channel financing of large infrastructure projects that go beyond one region. The urgent need to transform the legal status of Regional Development Agencies by granting them expanded delegated powers to coordinate cross-border and macro-regional recovery programs is substantiated. Specific conceptual directions for improving the Budget Code of Ukraine are proposed by legally securing targeted protected quotas of the State Fund for Regional Development exclusively for interregional cooperation projects, which will stimulate the formation of stable horizontal networks and significantly accelerate the complex process of Ukraine's integration into the single European economic space at the level of regional institutions.