According to the project Relocation.com.ua, Spain has become the largest “issuer” of first residence permits (first residence permits) in the European Union in 2024, followed by Germany and Poland, according to Eurostat data.
According to statistics, Spain issued 561.64 thousand first residence permits, Germany – 544.987 thousand, Poland – 488.846 thousand, Italy – 346.411 thousand, France – 342.208 thousand. European Commission
These five countries together accounted for 65.1% of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2024. In total, EU countries issued 3.5 million first residence permits to non-EU citizens in 2024, 8.3% less than in 2023.
http://relocation.com.ua/spain-and-germany-lead-the-way-in-issuing-the-first-npi/
Citizens of Ukraine have become the largest group among the recipients of first residence permits in the EU in 2024, according to Eurostat data. According to the EU statistical agency, in 2024 EU countries issued 295.6 thousand first residence permits to Ukrainian citizens, followed by citizens of India (192.4 thousand) and Morocco (188.4 thousand).
Eurostat also indicates that for Ukrainians the most frequent reason for obtaining the first residence permits was employment: 72.5% of permits for Ukrainian citizens in 2024 were issued on labor grounds.
At the same time, Eurostat emphasizes that the above statistics on first residence permits do not include persons who received temporary protection in the EU countries due to the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine – such data are collected separately.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has imposed sanctions on Paytek LLC (Kyiv) for violating the requirements of the legislation regulating activities in the payment market: it imposed a fine of UAH 12,803,900 and issued a written warning. According to information on the NBU website, the fine was imposed for violating the requirements of the law on the provision of payment services and the rules for storing and protecting the confidentiality of payment service providers.
It is noted that the inspection department conducted a scheduled inspection of Peitek LLC in May-July 2025, and the company had to pay the fine within 14 calendar days from the date of receipt of the relevant decision.
Peitek LLC is also obliged to eliminate the violations and prevent them in the future until February 27, 2026.
According to data from YouControl, Peitek LLC was registered in Kyiv in 2021. Its authorized capital is UAH 5.5 million. It is owned by Aldega CJSC (Lithuania) Andrius Trofimovas, who is the owner of the microcredit company Aventus Ukraine LLC.
According to the company’s website, Peitek LLC provides services for transferring funds in national currency without opening accounts, as well as for providing funds and bank metals on credit, while, as noted, it does not provide loans to individuals who are consumers of financial services and does not settle their overdue debts.
The full list of recipients of funds to whom Paytec LLC makes transfers and with whom it has concluded relevant agreements includes the following microcredit companies: Aventus Ukraine LLC (CreditPlus TM), Lineura Ukraine LLC (Credit 7 TM), Selfie Credit LLC (SelfieCredit TM), Slon Credit LLC, Innovation Company LLC, Star Finance Group LLC (StarFin and Suncredit TM), FC Procent LLC, KLT Credit LLC, and Gama Upgrade LLC.
The Ukrainian Christmas tree market continues to decline, both in terms of the number of trees and demand. Thus, the State Forestry Agency has planned to sell 991 thousand Christmas trees this year. This is 8% less than last year. At the same time, Ukrainians are buying Christmas trees less and less – only 39.8 thousand Christmas trees were sold as of mid-December. This is 11% less than in the same period last year. Most Christmas trees for sale are traditionally harvested in Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr regions.
991 thousand Christmas trees were harvested for sale this season in Ukraine. This is 8% less than last year.
However, demand for live Christmas trees is falling even faster than supply. Thus, only 39.9 thousand Christmas trees were sold in Ukraine as of mid-December 2025. This is 11% less than in the same period last year. For comparison, during the previous season, forestry enterprises sold 153.7 thousand trees, which is 38% less than in the 2023-2024 season and almost a quarter less than in 2022-2023.
The largest volumes of holiday trees for sale this season are concentrated in two regions: Vinnytsia region – 187 thousand Christmas trees, or 19% of the total, and Zhytomyr region – 142 thousand, or 14%. At the same time, Zhytomyr region remains the leader in terms of land area for growing conifers – 640 hectares. This is almost a quarter of the total Ukrainian area. Over the past four years, it has decreased by 9%, but even in this area, about 1.9 million trees grow.
2753.5 hectares is the total area where conifers are grown in Ukraine for the New Year holidays. This is 6% less than last year and 35% less than in 2021. In some regions, the decline is particularly dramatic: in Ivano-Frankivsk region, the area decreased from 9.6 hectares in 2021 to only 1.7 hectares in 2025.
Along with the land, the number of trees is also decreasing. While in 2021 there were almost 12.4 million conifers in Ukraine, now there are about 7.8 million.
Amid the shrinking legal market, the number of illegal logging operations has also fallen sharply. Only 34 cases of illegal harvesting of Christmas trees were recorded as of early December 2025. One third of the total number was detected in Kharkiv region – 10 cases. In total, there were 328 such violations last season.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/legal-christmas-trees-2025
Romanian border guards are not allowing many cars arriving from Ukraine to cross the border without proof of technical inspection, according to eyewitnesses.
To cross the border, drivers are required to present a technical inspection certificate confirming that the vehicle is in good working order. It is also necessary to have documents for entry and travel, including passport documents, car papers, and insurance, and in some cases, confirmation of the purpose of the trip and a power of attorney when driving someone else’s car.
The Romanian border police previously indicated that during border control, drivers must present an identity document, a valid driver’s license, vehicle registration documents, and confirmation of a valid periodic technical inspection, which must be valid at the time of presentation at the checkpoint.
In addition, border guards remind travelers that customs restrictions on entry into Romania apply to meat and dairy products, honey, and cash in excess of €10,000, which must be declared.
The volume of M&A in the world in 2025 exceeded $4 trillion for the first time since 2021, and the number of mega-deals has become a record, writes the Financial Times. According to the London Stock Exchange Group, the volume of M&A in 2025 increased by about 50% compared to 2024 and amounted to $4.5 trillion. This is the second highest figure in the more than forty-year history of tracking relevant data.
A record 68 mega-deals (valued at over $10 billion) were announced this year, many of which were transformational for their sectors.
Companies have taken advantage of favorable market conditions, availability of financing and relative regulatory leniency in the U.S. to strike strategic deals that would not have been possible in other environments.
“I haven’t seen such large M&A deals in a decade,” said Tony Kim, president of investment bank Centerview Partners. – Some of them have really transformed entire industries.”
Successful large mergers and acquisitions are only possible with a favorable combination of many important factors, which seems to be the case in 2025, he said.
Two of the biggest mega-deals of the past year were the purchase of the assets of media company Warner Bros. Discovery, for which Netflix Inc. and Paramount Skydance Corp. were competing, and the merger of rail operators Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern into a $250 billion-capitalization transcontinental giant.
A similar situation was seen in 2021, which remains a record year for M&A. At that time, the largest deals included the merger of media companies WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. and the purchase by railroad operator Canadian Pacific Railway of its competitor Kansas City Southern.
Amid high M&A activity in 2025, investment banks generated near-record fees, earning $135 billion in investment banking – up 9% from a year earlier.
More than half of that amount came from deals in the U.S. M&A involving U.S. companies totaled $2.3 trillion this year, more than 51% of the global total (the highest since 1998).
https://www.fixygen.ua/news/20251229/obsyag-ma-u-sviti-2025-roku-dosyag-rivnya-2021-roku.html
