As Ukraine advances on its path toward EU integration, anticipation is building ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 in Rome, a key international political gathering where government officials, financial institutions, civil society groups, and others will continue work on the swift recovery and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine. One critical question should be front and center: What tangible progress on recovery and local empowerment will be achieved this year that goes beyond the promises made in Berlin at last year’s conference? While Ukraine’s decade-long decentralization reform, transferring authority and resources to local levels, is widely recognized as one of the country’s most successful and strategic transformations—key to its wartime resilience—reform mechanisms remain chronically underfunded at the local and regional levels. Last month in Verona, over 400 stakeholders from Europe gathered to express solidarity and commitment. The will is there. But will alone is not enough. Funding is the missing piece, and not just any funding. What’s imperative now is direct, accessible EU funding for Ukrainian local and regional authorities (LRAs).
Ukraine’s Local Actors: The Unspoken Heroes | German Marshall Fund of the United States
