The legal basis for cooperation between Ukraine and the EU on regional development, regional and cross-border cooperation is determined by the provisions of Article 70 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the section on "Cross-border and regional cooperation" for the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

According to obligations undertaken by Ukraine in its relations with the EU, the empowering of local authorities according to the principles of decentralization and subsidiarity should be the most urgent task of reform, determined at the Constitutional level.

In addition, in 2014 the Ukrainian Prime Minister and President of the European Commission signed a state building contract with the EU. Under this contract Ukraine gets €355 million from the EU for carrying out reforms. One of the obligations of the contract is the adoption of an effective and comprehensive reform of the civil service and service in local government based on European principles of public administration.

The fully-fledged Mission of Ukraine to the European Union was established in Brussels in 1996. Since July 2010 it has been headed by Kostiantyn Elisieiev.

There are 3 representatives of Ukraine in CORLEAP. These include the representative of the Ukrainian Association of Local and Regional Authorities.

Finally, Ukraine takes part in 10 Euroregions, with the Carpathian region being a good example of such ​