The president’s bill about farmland turnover in Ukraine, which should be published within two weeks, allows legal entities to participate in the land market, acting Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine Olha Trofimtseva has said. “The president’s position regarding legal entities is quite liberal and this is one of the disagreements that exist between us. I believe that certain restrictions, safeguards should be established at the first transitional stage, I advocate a phased opening of the market and, accordingly, its phased liberalization,” she said at a press conference.
According to Trofimtseva, the presidential bill is based on the government’s bill.
“The changes that will be made in it concern legal entities, I think we will see it soon, it will be introduced in the Verkhovna Rada as the president’s bill, but this will be the subject of discussion after the first working day of the Verkhovna Rada, after the formation of the new Cabinet [of Ministers]. This is a question of a week or two,” the acting minister said.
In addition, Trofimtseva said that as part of the land reform, at least six or seven bills will be presented that will be aimed at the normal functioning of the land market.
BILL, FARMLAND, LEGAL ENTITIES, MARKET, PARTICIPATE, TURNOVER
The average bill of a foreign patient who is treated in Ukrainian clinics, is $2,000-2,500, not taking into account transport and accommodation costs, the Ukrainian Association of Medical Tourism (UAMT) said at a roundtable devoted to medical tourism in Ukraine, the situation with it and its prospects held in Kyiv last week.
According to UAMT, currently in Ukraine, about 120 clinics in different regions of Ukraine receive foreign patients.
According to UAMT Head Violetta Yanyshevska, the most attractive for foreign patients in Ukraine are plastic surgery, dentistry, sanatorium-resort treatment, reproductive technologies, rehabilitation, treatment of ophthalmologic diseases, heart surgery and cell therapy. She said that the leaders in receiving foreign patients in Ukraine are reproductive clinics. At the same time, Yanyshevska said that in matters of medical tourism, “this is not about competition between clinics, but about competition between countries.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a bill amending some laws of Ukraine on cutting electricity tariffs.
The document was registered in the parliament on June 26. The text of the bill has not been made public.
As reported, representative of the head of state in the Ukrainian government Andriy Gerus said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initiated the legislative change of the Rotterdam+ formula by the Rotterdam- formula in order to reduce electricity tariffs. He said that according to the document, the cost of shipping coal from Rotterdam to Ukraine should be removed from the formula. In addition, it is proposed that discounts be introduced if the quality of coal is worse. The bill also provides for a delay in the introduction of the electricity market for one year.
Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky has told Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius that his team had prepared a bill reimposing liability for illegal enrichment.
At the meeting Linkevicius reminded that the West was watching especially closely anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine, Zelensky’s press service said. “The decriminalization of illegal enrichment runs counter to Ukraine’s obligations to the European Union,” Linkevicius said.
Zelensky also asked for help with setting up an international media organization to broadcast pro-Ukrainian position to the temporarily occupied Ukrainian areas.
He thanked Lithuania for consistently defending Ukraine’s interests in Europe.
Linkevicius in turn congratulated him on winning the election and offered help with implementing reforms in combating corruption and the law enforcement system.
European organizations in Brussels are very interested in the Ukrainian president-elect, Linkevicius said, offering Zelensky to visit EU-level international events at the first opportunity.
A group of people’s deputies on the initiative of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council on December 4 registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine bill No. 9355-5 extending the land moratorium until January 1, 2020, the association said. “Despite the fact that Ukraine is constantly debating on the possible introduction of the land market, we have not yet been submitted a draft law on farmland turnover. This issue is extremely worrying for domestic farmers and raises many questions. Under such circumstances, it’s too early to talk about lifting the moratorium,” deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council Denys Marchuk said.
The authors of the draft law on amendments to the Transitional Provisions section of the Land Code of Ukraine regarding the extension of the ban on alienation of agricultural land were Oleksandr Bakumenko, Petro Yurchyshyn, Mykola Kucher, Valeriy Davydenko, Leonid Kozachenko, Andriy Kot, Mykola Liushniak, Serhiy Labaziuk, Valentyn Didych, Ivan Kyrylenko, Anatoliy Kuzmenko, Oleh Kulinich, and Vadym Ivchenko.
The association noted, with reference to the explanatory note to draft law No. 9355-5, that political speculation that the land market will be introduced from January 1, 2019 creates tension in the society and does not contribute to citizens’ confidence in the reforms that are implemented in the state.
The framework bill on the key principles of the government agricultural policy and rural development policy (No. 9162), which should determine Ukraine’s agricultural strategy, has been registered by a group of lawmakers.
“The document introduces the Agrarian Attache Office to represent and protect the interests of Ukrainian agricultural producers abroad. A step-by-step implementation of the government policy will be an action plan for implementing the basic principles for the development of the government agricultural policy and rural development policy, which will be developed for the period of five years to implement the law. Monitoring of the corresponding plan of measures is also proposed,” the co-author of the bill, MP Oleh Kulinich (deputy group Vidrodzhennia Party) said on his Facebook page.
According to MP Mykola Kucher (Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction), the bill will also introduce additional control over the management of state-owned land.
“Although at first glance, bill No. 9162 is declarative, but it is it that establishes the fundamental principles of the formation and implementation of the government agrarian policy, thereby getting a strategic content,” Kucher said.
