The European Commission will soon submit a report on the readiness of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia to join the European Union, European Council President Charles Michel said.
“We discussed in detail the issues of EU enlargement a few months ago, at the conference in Versailles. After that, three countries applied for accession. We made a decision very quickly, instructing the European Commission to carry out work and prepare reports on these countries. We made a decision in a few days, although it usually took 8-9 months. By the end of June, the European Commission will publish this report, and we will decide how to proceed further,” Michel said at a joint press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu during a visit to Chisinau.
He stressed that the EU will continue to act promptly.
“We will act immediately to strengthen ties with Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, to support them in the current difficult situation. This will be a political process in the context of how we see the development of the European Union. In the next two months, we will give a clear signal of what we want to enlarge the European Union,” the President of the European Council said.
For her part, Moldovan President Maia Sandu stressed that “European integration is the choice of the country, the choice of the people.” “On April 22, we submitted to Brussels the first part of our responses to the European Commission’s questionnaire. In the near future we will also pass on the second part. We understand that integration into the EU is a long process, we are not looking for short and easy ways. We intend to continue reforms. Most importantly – peace is needed for this, everything must be done to restore peace,” Sandu stressed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on international business to provide direct aid to Ukraine through the instrument of war bonds or accounts in the National Bank.
“Many of your board member companies have made contributions to UNICEF, the Red Cross and other international organizations,” he said, speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit Tuesday night.
“I am grateful for this, but unfortunately, most of these funds have not reached Ukrainian citizens and our state. We need direct aid through the instrument of war bonds or to an account in our Central Bank, through which we help our citizens,” he said, adding, “By helping us, you are helping yourself, because this aid is provided for the sake of stability and freedom.”
Zelensky also urged businesses to open representative offices, subdivisions, production facilities, companies, offices, and branches in Ukraine. “In our country you will get access not only to our market, but also to the market of the European Union,” the head of state said. He reminded that Ukraine had already received a decision from the EU that all duties for Ukrainian exports to the EU would be removed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outspeaks against the freezing of the conflict with Russia.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit Tuesday night, he said, referring to a possible cease-fire, that “it doesn’t mean Russian troops will stand where they are now. It’s a frozen conflict. We’re not going to agree to a frozen conflict.”
He called the Minsk agreements the kind that led to the frozen conflict. “I am against it, there will be no such document. We did not withdraw from Minsk, Russia withdrew from it on February 24. They did, and Ukraine will definitely not go into such a swamp again.”
At the same time, according to Zelensky, he does not see the desire of the Russian Federation to achieve a ceasefire. “If we have a meeting with President Putin, then maybe we can agree with him personally. He should commit to a ceasefire, preferably public, then we can believe in it,” the president said.
He also said that “we must first take the appropriate steps to stop the war, and then diplomacy will come into play.” “It is desirable to do the first stage and we have done that – to stop Russia in its advance. The second stage is to do as much as possible so that Russia withdraws from our territory. Now we are in the second stage. The third stage is to restore as much territorial integrity as possible,” he said.
In his opinion, “where it is possible to restore territorial integrity, to find some compromises through dialogue in words, not through dialogue of weapons, Ukraine will do it, but showing its position as an equal partner in any dialogue”.
Zelensky noted that “our groups are communicating at the level of negotiators,” but “I do not really believe in such agreements.” “It’s important to talk, but until the president of the Russian Federation personally says it officially, and I don’t see the weight in such agreements,” Zelensky said.
Gross insurance premiums of PJSC “Insurance company “Kraina” (Kyiv) in 2021 amounted to UAH 642.139 million, which is 16.7% more compared to 2020, Expert-Rating reports in the information on updating the company’s rating at the level of “uaAA+” on the national scale at the end of 2021.
According to the agency, the share of the company’s insurance premiums owned by reinsurers increased by 24.75%, and their share in the structure of the company’s gross premiums increased by 0.17 percentage points. up to 2.52%.
In 2021, JSC IC “Kraina” made UAH 354.31 million of insurance payments and indemnities, which exceeded the amount of payments for 2020 by 30.62%. In turn, the level of payments of the insurer increased to 55.18%, which exceeds the average indicator for the insurance market of Ukraine.
At the end of 2021, the company received a net profit in the amount of UAH 0.81 million, which is 93.29% less than in 2020. At the same time, the insurer received a loss from operating activities in the amount of UAH 8.62 million, while at the end of 2020, an operating profit was received in the amount of UAH 33.71 million.
In 2021, the equity capital of IC Krajina increased by 1.80% to UAH 152.296 million, and its gross liabilities increased by 13.64% to UAH 184.61 million. The high growth rates of gross liabilities led to a decrease in the level of coverage of the insurer’s liabilities by equity capital by 9.59 percentage points. up to 82.50%.
The volume of cash and cash equivalents during the analyzed period increased by 5.63% and amounted to UAH 90.71 million, while the indicator of coverage of the insurer’s obligations by cash decreased by 3.73 percentage points. up to 49.14%.
At the same time, the Agency notes that as of December 31, 2021, the insurer invested UAH 17.710 million in government bonds, which had a positive effect on the provision with liquid assets, which together covered 58.73% of the insurer’s liabilities.
The agency notes that, according to the reports provided by IC Krajina, as of the end of .2021, the insurer adhered to the criteria and standards established by law for solvency and capital adequacy, liquidity, profitability, asset quality and riskiness of the insurer’s operations.
IC “Kraina” has been operating in the insurance market of Ukraine since 1994. It has licenses for 23 types of insurance.
Structure of import of services in 2021 (graphically)
SSC of Ukraine
The European Commission (EC), within the framework of the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which is being prepared, considers it necessary to ban the import of all Russian oil to the EU, the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday.
“Today we will propose a ban on all Russian oil in Europe. This will be a complete ban on the import of oil from the Russian Federation, delivered by sea and through pipelines, crude and refined oil,” she said.
At the same time, she acknowledged that it would not be easy to take this step due to the serious dependence of a number of EU members on Russian oil, but the EU “simply must go for it.”
According to her, the embargo on Russian oil should be introduced “neatly” in order to give the EU time to find alternative oil suppliers and minimize the impact of sanctions on oil markets. She noted that the refusal of oil and refined petroleum products from the Russian Federation should take six months and be completed by the end of 2022.
The day before, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, expressed confidence that the EU countries would agree to the imposition of new sanctions against Russia in the coming days.
In turn, Politico reported, citing unnamed EU diplomats, that the European Commission will propose transitional measures or an exception to oil sanctions for Slovakia and Hungary, given the degree of their dependence on Russian oil and the difficulty in finding alternative suppliers.
