Since 2017, the Transparent Cities program has measured the state of local governance through the Transparency Ranking. In 2025, the program launched a new pilot study, the European City Index. Its aim is to assess how ready Ukrainian municipalities are for EU integration in good governance, transparency, accountability, and public participation. Under the pilot, analysts examined 10 regional centers and Kyiv across 6 thematic blocks (subindices).
The experts assessed city openness, e-services and open data, public finance management, anti-corruption efforts, and accountability, which was the final stage of the analysis.
Yet the analysts did not stop at the pilot sample. After each subindex, they went beyond the 11 cities and tested key indicators on 20 regional centers and Ukraine's 50 largest cities. Among other things, these studies reinforce the findings of this year's pilot subindices:
- Transparency in humanitarian aid distribution remains a weak spot for most municipalities. Only 3 of 50 cities (Mykolaiv, Chernivtsi, and Shostka) published the full set of required information (list of recipients, distribution criteria, and reporting) in a dedicated humanitarian aid section. City councils' current coverage of the issue still falls short of what a full-scale war demands.
- The single point of entry principle is applied selectively. Only 18 of 50 city councils have set up a section on their official website, or a separate dedicated resource, that brings together valid links to at least seven current e-services. Of 19 regional centers, only nine showed user-centricity in their website design.
Cities did slightly better with open data sections: 39 cities have one on the official city council website. These sections are fairly active in publishing the relevant regulations and links to the council's account on the Unified State Open Data Web Portal. However, only 5 city councils have added links to actual services built on that data.
- The quality of municipal open data is low. For example, only 1 of 50 cities, Kyiv, created a utility tariffs dataset in line with the Ministry of Digital Transformation's recommendations and published it on time on the Unified State Open Data Web Portal. This neglect leaves journalists, researchers, and e-service developers unable to combine local self-government data from data.gov.ua at either the regional or the national level.
- Citizen feedback is not treated as an essential part of decision-making on important issues. Only 13 of 20 regional centers engaged residents in adopting the 2026 budget, and only 10 did so through budget hearings, as the law requires.
- There are significant gaps even in municipalities' formal accountability. On the Integrity Portal, analysts found 41 of 50 annual activity reports by anti-corruption officers (authorized persons for corruption prevention and detection). Only 34 of these electronic forms were completed on time, by February 10, 2026.
Additional analytical materials for each block are already available on the Transparent Cities website:
Openness:
E-services:
- Can Residents Find E-Services on City Council Websites?
- City in Your Pocket: Who Develops Mobile Apps for Their Communities, and How
Open data:
- Can Residents Learn About Open Data on City Council Websites?
- Open but Inaccessible: Why Ukrainian Cities' Utility Tariff Data Cannot Be Analyzed
Public finance:
- Budget Transparency in Regional Centers: The Role of Public Opinion
- How Much Did 50 Cities Raise from Local Taxes and Fees in 2025?
Integrity:
Accountability:
- Development Strategies: Do Communities Know Where They Are Heading?
- How City Councils Respond to Residents: An Undercover Check of Social Media and Hotlines
Cities outside the 11-city sample can still check how transparent and effective their approaches are using the city council self-assessment forms, available here.
In late September, the Transparent Cities program enters the home stretch and is already preparing to present its final report. The experts will reveal municipalities' main achievements and failures, as well as the city councils that topped this pilot Euroindex.
Stay tuned for our announcements!