President of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) Gianni Buquicchio called for accelerating the reform of the judiciary in Ukraine, and also noted that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) should be “safeguarded at any cost.”
“The judiciary reform must be comprehensive. The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe has been working on this reform in Ukraine for decades already, without real success,” Buquicchio said at the Democracy in Action: Zero Corruption Conference on Tuesday.
He stressed that the NABU must be safeguarded at any cost. “Because they have done a good job and they must continue to do their job,” the President of the Venice Commission said.
“Vetting the High Council of Justice and selecting new good members is a priority. The High Qualifications Commission is also a priority. But they two are interlinked, and I think it is much more important that the Council is vetted and reformed, in order to select good members of the High Qualifications Commission,” Buquicchio said.
According to him, the reform is also urgent, because Ukraine lacks 2,000 judges, and next year there will be another 1,700 judges who will retire by that time.
“This means that the judiciary will operate with half of its personnel. All these issues are urgent, and what I hope that the government and the parliament will do is to accelerate these reforms,” he said.
Authorized banks over the past week issued 592 loans under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program for UAH 1.9 billion, and in general, from the start of the program, the number of loans exceeded 17,600 for a total of UAH 45.9 billion.
The Ministry of Economy reported on the website that UAH 1.3 billion of the total amount of contracts concluded last week are loans to replenish working capital at 0%, UAH 480 million are loans to refinance the previously issued loans, and the amount of investment loans totaled UAH 194 million.
The Ministry of Finance, in turn, noted that out of 31 banks participating in the program, the leaders in issuing loans are PrivatBank (5,800 agreements for UAH 4.2 billion), Oschadbank (almost 2,400 agreements for UAH 4.5 billion), and Raiffeisen Bank Aval (1,900 loans for UAH 8.7 billion).
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) has suspended the resumption of flights between Ukraine and Poland (Kyiv-Warsaw-Kyiv), which was planned for June 18.
According to the company’s website, the reason for this decision was the situation that arose in connection with the need to fly around the territory of Belarus and the subsequent redistribution of passenger traffic observed by the airline in this direction.
“UIA will carefully analyze the market for both point to point passengers traveling to/from Poland and passengers traveling with a transfer in Poland or Ukraine. In the event of a recovery in demand for the UIA network, the flights will be resumed,” the report says.
Currently, flights from Kyiv to Warsaw are also operated by Wizz Air, Ryanair and LOT.
QUOTES OF INTERBANK CURRENCY MARKET OF UKRAINE (UAH FOR $1, IN 01.04.2021-30.04.2021)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden discussed in detail the construction of the Nord Stream 2 project from Russia to Germany, Ukraine’s integration into NATO, the situation in Donbas and the implementation of reforms in Ukraine, adviser to the President’s Office head Mykhailo Podoliak has said.
“The conversation was very specific, substantive and covered key topics for our bilateral relations. The risks of the Nord Stream 2 construction for European security, the fastest and most effective Ukraine’s integration into NATO, the real situation in Donbas without any admixture of Russian propaganda, the obvious implementation of reforms in Ukraine and, in particular, the process of de-oligarchization,” Podoliak told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, “both the President of the United States and the President of Ukraine assess the existing risks for the European region security pretty much the same.”
Podoliak also said that “President Biden invited President Zelensky to visit Washington in July upon Biden’s return from a series of summits to be held in June.” “This is a G7 meeting, a NATO summit, a bilateral summit between the United States and Russia,” he said.
“After all these events, it will be quite logical to once again coordinate the policies of our states, and once again conduct and synchronize our partner positions,” the adviser to the President’s Office head said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has eased quarantine restrictions, allowing, in particular, the holding of mass events (including in entertainment venues [nightclubs] and catering establishments) with the condition of one person per 4 square meters of the area of the building, territory or the fullness of the halls for more than two-thirds of the seats (placement is carried out in compliance with the filling of two rows by visitors and one empty row). This is enshrined in resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 583 of June 2, 2021.
In addition, restrictions do not apply provided that all participants and organizers of the event have a negative test result for COVID-19 by a PCR or rapid antigen test conducted no more than 72 hours before the event, or a document confirming the receipt of the full course of vaccination.
It is also allowed to receive visitors in cinemas and other cultural institutions with a capacity of no more than two-thirds of the seats.
In addition, the “green” level of epidemic danger will be established if the number of detected new cases of COVID-19 infection per 100,000 population in the last 14 days is less than 75, the detection rate of cases of COVID-19 infection by a PCR or rapid antigen testing is less than 4%, the number of tests by a PCR or express testing during the last seven days per 100,000 of the population is more than 300, and there are no regions with an established “red” level of epidemic danger throughout Ukraine.
