Business news from Ukraine

Switzerland followed EU in imposing new sanctions against Russia

Switzerland followed the EU in imposing new sanctions against Russia, with 141 individuals and 49 legal entities added to the “black lists,” the Swiss government said in a statement.
“Switzerland, by amending the sanctions lists on December 21, thus joined the EU measures,” the press release said.
“Switzerland is amending the sanctions regime as part of the measures that the EU adopted in connection with the supply of Iranian drones to Russia and the continuing alarming situation in Ukraine,” the document specified.
The sanctions will take effect at 6 p.m. local time.
According to the statement, on December 16, the EU also imposed a ban on exports to Russia of a number of other categories of goods and services, and the Swiss government, in turn, will study these measures.
On December 16, the EU Council approved the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes restrictions against the mining and energy sectors and a ban on exports of space industry goods and drones.
Among other things, the EU also added 168 more entities related to the defense industry of Russia to its “black lists. In addition, the ninth EU sanctions package against Russia included 144 individuals, including high-ranking Russian officials, MPs, military personnel and artists from Russia.

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Hungary has blocked allocation of EUR18bn to Ukraine from EU, search for solution will continue

Hungarian Finance Minister Mihai Varga on behalf of the country spoke out against the adoption of legislative amendments by the European Council that would allow Ukraine to allocate EUR 18bn in macrofinancial aid plus in 2023.
Nevertheless, the EU will continue to seek a solution that would be supported by all member states.
“Hungary opposes the amendment of the financial legislation,” he said Tuesday in Brussels on the sidelines of the open part of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council.
In particular, Hungary opposed the amendment to the multiyear financial legislation, which must be passed unanimously.
At the same time, ministers voted by qualified majority macro-financial assistance plus (MFA+) and an amendment to the financial regulations.
Czech Finance Minister Zbigniew Stanjura, who chaired the meeting, commenting on the situation, said: “Unfortunately, we were not able to pass the package as a whole. Nevertheless, this will not cool down our ambitions to start allocating our aid to Ukraine from the beginning of January. I ask the Economic and Financial Committee to find an alternative solution. That means that we will have to find a solution that all countries will support. We will find a solution to support Ukraine.

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EU finance ministers to discuss EUR18bn aid to Ukraine today

European Union finance ministers will discuss a proposal of the European Commission to provide EUR18bn to Ukraine in 2023 in a specially created “macrofinancial support plus” format. It is not yet known whether a decision will be made.
This was told to journalists on the eve of a meeting of the Council on Economic and Financial Affairs, which will be held on Tuesday in Brussels, a European diplomat on the right of anonymity.
He explained that three legislative proposals will be discussed: macrofinancial aid plus (MFA+) and an amendment to the financial regulations, which must be passed by a qualified majority, and an amendment to the multiyear financial scheme, which must be passed unanimously. “Ministers will discuss these proposals and then decide whether or not to bring them to a vote. Tomorrow (Dec. 6 – IF-U) will be decisive. No decisions have been made as of today. We have to see tomorrow morning and decide how we will move forward, we have to see if there is an opportunity for the ministers to decide whether to put these issues to a vote or not,” detailed the interlocutor to the journalists.
He also recalled that the loans, which will be granted to Ukraine in 2023 in the amount of EUR18bn, will have a 10-year grace period. It is proposed that member states will cover the major part of interest expenses, while guarantees for these loans will be provided from the EU budget.
Relevant proposals were officially presented by the European Commission on November 9, followed by a vote in the European Parliament on November 24.
At the same time this proposal was opposed by Hungary. Thus, on December 2, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he “doesn’t want the European Union to become a community of debtor-states instead of a community of cooperating states. Instead, he suggested that all EU members use funds from their own budgets to help Ukraine through bilateral agreements.
It is not ruled out that it is at Budapest’s suggestion that the vote may be postponed to a later date.

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Gas supplies to Ukraine from EU in November amounted to 228 million cubic meters, which is 27% less than in October

Natural gas supply to Ukraine from EU countries in November 2022 amounted to 228 mln. cubic meters, 27.7% less than in October (315.4 mln. cubic meters), operational data of GTS Operator of Ukraine show.
In particular, the supply of gas to the “customs warehouse” UGS in November made 191.1 million cubic meters against 261.9 million cubic meters in October.
In November, Romania with a modest volume of 0.3 million cubic meters was added to the gas supply to the Ukrainian GTS from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. At the same time, in the morning of December 2, 8.7 million cubic meters of the total volume was received at the entrance from Romania out of a total of 18.1 million cubic meters. Romanian volumes bypassed the “customs warehouse”.
According to the analytical publication ICIS, Moldova imports gas from Romania through the Trans-Balkan pipeline. Volumes delivered through the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB) were physically sent north to Moldova via the Trans-Balkan line via Romania and Ukraine.
Once the volumes enter Moldova through the southern border crossing of Causeni, they can be subtracted from the volumes entering Moldova from Ukraine through the Grebeninki border crossing in the north, a regional source told ICIS.
“It took almost six years to unblock the network in the region and start physical gas supplies from alternative directions,” former UGTSU head Sergei Makogon said in a comment to ICIS.
As reported, in September 2022, from the territory of Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to Ukraine received 29.4 million cubic meters (TC – 17.4 million cubic meters), August – 142.1 million cubic meters (120.7 million cubic meters), July – 119 million cubic meters (82.6 million cubic meters). The Trans-Balkan Gas Pipeline is located in the northern part of the Russian Federation, in July – 119 million cubic meters (82.6 million cubic meters), June – 46.1 million cubic meters (6.6 million cubic meters), May – 24 million cubic meters (4.9 million cubic meters), April – 3.2 million cubic meters (3.2 million cubic meters), March – 282.3 million cubic meters (10 million cubic meters), February – 349.7 million cubic meters (11 million cubic meters), January – 47 million cubic meters (0.0 million cubic meters).
The Trans-Balkan pipeline is a trunk gas pipeline crossing the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

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EU sends 40 more generators to Ukraine

The European Union will send 40 generators to Ukraine as part of its support in addition to the already supplied 550, European Union diplomatic chief Josep Borrel said.
“Russia is trying to break Ukraine’s fighting spirit by striking at its energy infrastructure and using winter as a weapon of war against civilians. At the G7 meeting, we are coordinating our support; the EU is sending 40 generators in addition to the 550 already provided through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations mechanism,” Borrel wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
As reported, the European Commission reported that 200 medium transformers and a large autotransformer from Lithuania, a medium autotransformer from Latvia and 40 heavy generators from the EC reserve located in Romania (rescEU) were prepared to be sent to Ukraine through the EU Emergency Response Coordination Center. According to the report, each of the generators can provide uninterrupted power to a small or medium-sized hospital.
The EC is also additionally working on a new rescEU energy hub in Poland to provide assistance from third parties and facilitate its coordinated delivery to Ukraine, including with G7 partners.

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EU has created job search platform for Ukrainian citizens

The EU Talent Fund trial project has created an online job search tool for Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war and looking for work in the EU.
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service on Friday, the portal can be used by Ukrainian citizens who are on the territory of EU member states as temporarily displaced persons.
“The EU Talent Trial Fund is an opportunity to upload your resume and find your employer. The portal is used by more than 4,000 public employment services and private employment agencies. And that’s more than 3 million job openings from a variety of fields,” the report says.
Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain and Cyprus take part in the project, according to the Fund’s page on the European Commission’s website.

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