The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Wednesday decided to create a working group for consultations with the European Commission on aligning an approach on the introduction in Ukraine carbon tax – the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), permanent representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Vasyl Mokan said.
“The European Commission is expected to submit a relevant legislative proposal to the European Parliament and the European Council by mid-2021. That is why there was a need for a unified approach of the Ukrainian side for communication and interaction with the European Commission on the issue of introducing CBAM in Ukraine,” Mokan wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to the explanatory note to the document, within the framework of the working group it is planned to develop a consolidated position of the Ukrainian side. The working group was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna and Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka became her deputy.
As reported, the official documents of the European Commission and the European Parliament suggest that an individual approach will be applied to the third countries with which the EU has an Association Agreement or a free trade area when introducing CBAM.
CBAM envisages the introduction of an environmental duty for the import of products into the EU, depending on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions during the production process. Presumably, the mechanism will be launched on January 1, 2023 as part of the implementation of the Green Deal strategy.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 2020 provided the State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) with state guarantees for UAH 23.5 billion.
According to the information on the state guarantees provided in January-December 2020, published on the website of the State Treasury Service, on April 28, 2020, Ukravtodor received a state guarantee for UAH 19.274 billion (with additional guarantee of interest income), on December 18 for UAH 1 billion and on December 22 for UAH 2.25 billion and UAH 1 billion (all three – with additional guarantee of all payment obligations).
According to the data on the total amount of state and state-guaranteed debt for 2020, Ukravtodor placed 12-month bonds for UAH 5.78 billion in April last year, for UAH 5.08 billion in June and for UAH 3.5 billion in November. In total, from the placement of this type of bonds, the state agency raised UAH 14.36 billion of funds.
In addition, in August, Ukravtodor placed three-year bonds worth UAH 2.87 billion, and in November five-year bonds for UAH 2 billion.
According to Ukravtodor, 12-month bonds were redeemed by Ukreximbank for UAH 5.782 billion at 10.5% for one year, for UAH 5.081 billion at 9.99% for two years and for UAH 2.872 billion at 9.99% for three years.
In December, the state agency raised UAH 4.25 billion from three state-owned banks: UAH 1 billion each from Ukrgasbank and Ukreximbank, as well as UAH 2.25 billion from Oschadbank.
The State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine ensures the implementation of the state policy in the field of road facilities and road management.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a list of lockdown restrictions that will have effect throughout Ukraine from December 19, 2020.
According to the press service of the government, from December 19, 2020, new restrictions will apply throughout Ukraine.
In particular, the new restrictions prohibit: holding mass events in educational institutions (performances, celebrations, concerts) with the participation of children from more than one group or class and in the presence of visitors; holding festive events, banquets, master classes, public events in entertainment and catering establishments; reception of visitors in museums, exhibitions, galleries, if there are more than one person per ten square meters; catering work from 23:00 to 07:00 (except for delivery and take-away orders). Settlement transactions are terminated after 22:00. On the night from December 31 to January 1, the work of restaurants and cafes will be allowed until 01:00.
As for religious events: indoors, subject to the presence of more than one person per five square meters; in the open air, provided that the distance of one and a half meters between those present is not observed.
In addition, the previous restrictions will apply. In particular, it is prohibited: to stay in public transport and public places without wearing a mask, as well as being on the street without identity documents; unauthorized leaving of the place of isolation or observation; holding mass cultural (including concerts), sports, social, advertising and other events in which more than 20 people take part and the distance of one and a half meters between the participants is not maintained (exception is official and professional sports events without spectators, examinations for notaries and measures necessary to ensure the work of the authorities); operation of cinemas and cultural institutions with more than 50% of seats in one hall; there are more passengers in passenger transport than the number of seats (except for the metro); holding discos, nightclubs and catering establishments with leisure organizations; accommodation in catering establishments for more than four adults at the table and when the distance between the tables is less than two meters.
The work of business entities in which employees are not provided with masks, and markings are not applied at a distance between clients of one and a half meters, and visitors do not have properly dressed personal protective equipment; border crossing by foreigners without insurance policy (with some exceptions); the activities of accommodation institutions (except for hotels, rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities, health resorts); visiting educational institutions by groups of more than 20 people, except for institutions of preschool, general secondary, extracurricular and specialized art education; visiting educational institutions in the case when more than 50% of students and staff of an educational institution are on self-isolation; carrying out planned hospitalization measures (except for palliative care, obstetrics, newborns, obstetrics, treatment of cancer patients, highly specialized (tertiary) medical care and other emergency medical care); work of gyms and fitness centers, if there is more than one person per 20 square meters; visiting points (places) of temporary detention of persons, points of temporary stay of foreigners and stateless persons, as well as points of accommodation of refugees; crossing the entry-exit checkpoint in the temporarily occupied territories of CADLO and Crimea by foreigners without an insurance policy (with some exceptions); visits by unauthorized persons to social security institutions in which certain categories of citizens are located (elderly people, war veterans, persons with disabilities, mental disorders, etc.).
The list of 103 priority investment projects until 2023, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on Wednesday, includes 14 airports.
According to the accompanying documents to the decree, in particular, in the specified list, the resumption of core activities and further development of the international airport in Cherkasy; reconstruction of the airfield of Ivano-Frankivsk International Airport; reconstruction of the international airport in Chernivtsi (all are funded from the state and local budgets, investor funds).
In addition, the priority is given to modernization of the material and technical base of Kherson International Airport (funding from the state and local budgets, credit funds); reconstruction of the international airport in Vinnytsia, the international airport in Odesa (the third stage of construction); the international airport in the city of Dnipro; construction of a new airport in Zakarpattia; reconstruction of the international airport in Poltava (all are funded from the state and local budgets, investor funds).
In addition, it is planned to renew the infrastructure of Rivne International Airport municipal enterprise (exclusively at the expense of the investor); to renovate the runway, buildings, networks of Sumy Airport municipal enterprise (at the expense of the state and local budgets, investor funds, credit funds); to reconstruct international airports in Kryvy Rih and Mykolaiv (at the expense of the state and local budgets, investor funds); to reconstruct and modernize the airport in Zhytomyr (at the expense of the investor and the state budget).
The Cabinet of Ministers has raised the requirements for operators of privatization auctions, in particular, an operator must have at least six employees, a charter capital of at least UAH 1 million and its own call center for selection.
According to the draft regulation, the auction operator must also have an excellent business reputation with regard to the law on prevention and counteraction of legalization (laundering) of proceeds.
In addition, the requirement presupposes having at least a year of experience in the market for the sale of property in the form of auctions and cryptographic protection for a secure connection between the server and bidders.
As indicated in the draft regulation, the charge rate for participation in the privatization auction for an object worth more than UAH 64 million is set at 1% (previously it was set for objects worth over UAH 250 million), from UAH 4 million to UAH 64 million it is 2.5% (previously the charge rate of 2.4% was set for objects from UAH 1 million to UAH 4 million), and up to UAH 4 million it is 4% (previously the maximum charge was 3% for objects up to UAH 1 million).
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is studying information on measures that can be taken to facilitate the movement of workers and visitors through the territory of the Government House.
“We are now studying with our security services how open the government building and the courtyard can be. We really want to open it as much as possible,” said Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk at a briefing after a government meeting on Wednesday.
According to him, the result will be visible throughout the week.
At the same time, an Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent reported that several checkpoints on the floors of the Government House had already been removed.
