The change of head of the President’s Office of Ukraine in no way affects the political course of the state. “There are important reforms ahead, and this is precisely what the team of Volodymyr Zelensky is focusing on,” the President’s Office commented on its Facebook page. At the President’s Office, they thanked Andriy Bohdan, its previous head, for his work, who had resigned.
“From today, the Office of the President of Ukraine is headed by Andriy Yermak. The previous leader, Andriy Bohdan, has resigned. The President’s Office is grateful for his work during these months. The President’s Office is confident that Andriy Yermak will cope with the responsibility entrusted to him,” a statement says.
The Board of Directors of the Cereal Planet Group, a leading producer of cereals in Ukraine, has approved the decision to change the place of registration from Cyprus to Poland, the company has reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) on Friday.
According to the report, shareholders at an extraordinary meeting on August 12 made this decision. Now Cereal Planet is going through the registration process in the relevant authorities of Poland. The plans are to register a holding company of the group called Cereal Planet S.A. in Warsaw.
Cereal Planet produces weight grains for B2B under the OLIMP trademark – four product lines: Bulgur, Ridlan, Mayfayna, Zlatokositsa, and under the Lyuba Ferma trademark – animal feed mixtures. It exports cereals to more than 30 countries.
Cereal Planet, according to the company, occupies up to 10% of the Ukrainian cereal market. The monthly production volume is 4,500-5,000 tonnes.
The owners of the group are Anatoliy and Oleksandr Vlasenko (33.54% and 29.93% respectively), Oleksandr Slavhorodsky (29.93%), and Ihor Dobruskin (5.5%).
A small percentage of Ukrainians are familiar with the contents of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to a survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the sociological service of the Razumkov Center for the Center for Political and Legal Reforms. According to the release published on Thursday, almost half of the population (47%) has not read the text of the Constitution and about a third (32%) read only certain sections of it. Only 11% of the population is familiar with all sections. Of those who are acquainted with the contents of the Constitution, half did it in order to know their rights.
Almost half of the respondents (46%) know that, according to the Constitution, the people of Ukraine are the bearers of sovereignty and the source of power in the country, while 34% believe that the president is such a subject, with 8% found it difficult to answer this question.
“The majority of respondents (58%) view the Constitution as a means of securing human rights and freedoms, and at the same time only 17% of respondents believe that it should establish responsibilities for a citizen,” organizers of the survey said.
Among the majority of respondents, the conviction remains that the highest state bodies and officials constantly (38%) or often (43%) violate the Constitution. Among the reasons for the violation of the Constitution, most often mentioned was the neglect of laws and the right of officials (59%).
Almost two thirds of respondents (60%) are convinced that violation of the Constitution is unacceptable under any conditions and only 11% admit that the authority can violate the Basic Law if it contributes to faster decisions that will benefit society. At the same time, 18.5% believe officials can violate the Constitution if the goal is to benefit society.
“In relation to violations of the Constitution, Donbas region is highlighted, where 31% of respondents believe violating the Constitution is warranted if doing so benefits the public interest,” survey organizers said.
More than two thirds of those polled (67%) said the Constitution needs to be changed, with 35% believing this a topical issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Some 32% are sure that such changes are necessary, but only after the situation has stabilized in the country. Only 12% do not see the need to change the Constitution, while 20% don’t have an opinion.
The prevailing view is that an independent body including representatives of various branches of government and independent experts should propose changes to the Constitution. This position was supported by 37% of respondents. Only 18% believe the task should be entrusted to a special agency under the president, with 17% saying a special parliamentary commission should propose the changes. Only 13% said they would entrust the task to scientists and expert organizations of civil society.
If the new Constitution is adopted, the citizens consider the All-Ukrainian referendum as the best way to approve it (41%). Some 24% are ready to entrust this matter to a specially selected body and 19% to parliament.
More than half of citizens (56%) do not trust the Constitutional Court, while 22% of respondents trust the Constitutional Court.
It is unlikely that the presidential and parliamentary elections to be held this year would affect the speed of the implementation of reforms in Ukraine, according to most participants of the CFA Society Ukraine Investment Forum held in Kyiv on Friday, March 15.
According to its express poll, 58.33% of the audience backed the above opinion and 62.944% confirmed it during the repeated voting after the information panel.
However, 15.74% and 21.68% of the participants during the repeated voting said that the reforms would accelerate. Some 17.59% (11.91%) and 8.33% (4.2%) respectively expected that the reform would slow down and would be backtracked.
According to Economist of Morgan Stanley investment bank Alina Sliusarchuk, judicial reform is currently the key reform for Ukraine.
“The first question that investors usually ask me is not about the labor market or even about the war in the east of the country. It concerns the fight against corruption, judicial reform, the presence of structural changes. That is, this is the most important issue,” she said at the forum.
Chief Economist at the Dragon Capital investment group Olena Belan said that the intentions and aspirations of the new authorities would very quickly manifest themselves in the macroeconomic situation.
“Regardless of who will be elected, if the new government continues cooperating with the International Monetary Fund, adhering to the correct policy, rather than making populist decisions, there is a potential for reducing the key policy rate by 2 or 3 percentage points,” she said.
Executive Director of Blazer International Foundation Oleh Ustenko has the same opinion. He said that the success of the new government will directly depend on whether they are based on expert opinion.
“I am sure that in Ukraine the situation will really improve if each of the existing candidates who intends to lead the country will follow the instructions prepared by the experts. Of course, the person who is elected to this position is important, but society and international partners are unlikely to allow future head of state to significantly deviate from the course of reform,” he said.
About 300 financial and investment experts took part in the ninth CFA Society Ukraine Investment Forum.
