The EU will mobilize EUR 17 billion in investments for the Eastern Partnership countries to develop a more dynamic economy and society in the region, said EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Oliver Várhelyi.
Várhelyi said at a conference on Ukraine reforms, which is taking place in Vilnius on Wednesday, that he is in Georgia today, but glad that he can join the conference via video link. He said he was engaged in delivering a very positive message for the Eastern Partnership countries, including Ukraine, about a significant new economic and investment plan for the region, adding that they are mobilizing EUR 17 billion investment for the region, in order to build new, more sustainable and more dynamic economies and societies in the region.
From July 1, key trading platforms of the world will be able to act as a tax agent for sellers, including sellers from Ukraine, thanks to which the procedure for registration of shipments to EU countries will be significantly simplified for the latter and, provided that the shipment is correctly processed, the time for passing through customs control will be reduced.
The press service of Ukrposhta reported on Wednesday that key marketplaces such as Etsy, eBay, Wish, Amazon and others, in particular, will independently calculate VAT on goods sold that are sent to Europe, and will directly settle with the tax authorities of the countries of delivery.
“For Ukrainian entrepreneurs, this means that all parcels to Europe with goods worth up to EUR 150, which will pass the correct registration in the personal account of Ukrposhta, will be delivered as quickly as possible and automatically go through customs in a few seconds. Previously, customs clearance of parcels could take from one day to a week, depending on the workload of customs inspectors,” the company said.
Ukraine hopes the EU will add it to the list of countries from which free entry is allowed in two weeks, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.
“There is no policy in the recommendation of the European Commission. Every two weeks, the EU member states revise the list of third countries for free entry into the EU. The recommendation is formed, in particular, based on four factors: the rate of new cases of COVID-19 reported per 100,000 population over the previous 14 days, the number of tests in seven days, the level of positive tests and the nature of the virus, in particular the presence of more dangerous strains,” Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
He said the indicators in Ukraine for the period when the European Commission conducted the assessment, even exceeded the norm.
“It should be borne in mind here that the assessment of indicators was conducted not over the past days, but over the previous several weeks, when they were higher. Since we are now more and more approaching the norm established by the European Commission, on behalf of Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Delegation to the EU is interacting with the European side to include Ukraine in the list during its next review,” the spokesperson said.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the recommendation of the European Commission to open the EU borders for a certain list of countries is not legally binding.
“EU member states individually approve final decisions to weaken or strengthen travel restrictions. Accordingly, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is working with European countries on a bilateral level to simplify travel conditions for Ukrainians, in particular the recognition of vaccination certificates and digital COVID-19 certificates,” Nikolenko said.
The European Union has decided to prolong the economic sanctions against Russia, European Council President Charles Michel said on Friday.
“We have rolled over our economic sanctions against Russia: Moscow must do its part to ensure full implementation of Minsk Agreements,” he said on Twitter.
As of June 14, according to the incidence rates of COVID-19, Ukraine entered the “green” zone according to the EU criteria, the Coronavirus-info Telegram channel reported.
According to the report, the country has reached the lowest incidence rates in the last year, in particular, an indicator of 74.71 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population was recorded, with the EU criterion of 75 cases per 100,000 population.
As reported, last week all regions of Ukraine entered the “green” epidemic zone of COVID-19 in accordance with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recommended that EU air carriers and non-EU airlines avoid Belarusian airspace, Western media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing the EASA.
Non-EU airlines authorized by the EASA when conducting operations to, from, and within the EU are advised to avoid operating in Belarusian airspace, it said.
The agency cited safety reasons following the May 23 Ryanair flight incident, which called into question the ability of the Belarusian authorities to provide safe air navigation services.
A Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land at the Minsk airport while passing through Belarus’s airspace on May 23. It was reported that the plane landed after the Belarusian security services were warned of a bomb threat. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered that a MiG-29 fighter jet be scrambled to shadow the passenger plane, which was carrying Roman Pratasevich, editor of the Telegram channel Belarus Golovnogo Mozga (Belarus of the Brain) and former editor of the Telegram channel Nexta, both designated as extremist in Belarus, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen and student of the European Humanities University based in Vilnius. The Belarusian authorities have detained both of them.
