The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide EUR140 million to support municipalities in Ukraine, EBRD Vice President for Policy and Partnerships Mark Bowman said.
“We need to support Ukraine, in particular the environmental infrastructure during the war and lay a strong foundation for its green recovery. This is a really important part of Ukraine’s European integration. I was very surprised by the super commitments that Ukraine has made on its way to the EU,” he said on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on Tuesday.
Bowman recalled that the EBRD has been supporting Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war and has invested more than EUR4 billion in support of Ukraine. In addition, investments in energy efficiency projects, water supply, water drainage, public transportation in Ukraine continue to receive about EUR160 million.
“We are ready to provide additional funding of EUR140 mln to support municipalities that face serious problems and are in a difficult situation. They need to cope with the devastation. These difficulties are big,” the EBRD representative emphasized.
Bowman also recalled that the EBRD has developed the Green Cities program. This project started in 2016 and seven Ukrainian cities joined it. They continue to work even in conditions of war. In particular, two participants of this program have introduced war plans and continue to implement them.
In addition, the EBRD this week announced a EUR55 million investment in a joint venture with Goldback Solar Investment to build and operate new renewable energy facilities, predominantly solar, on 522 MHz.
The number of insurance companies in Ukraine in May 2024 decreased by one company and as of the end of the month there are 83 risk insurers in the market, 12 specialize in life insurance, one – with a special status (“Export Credit Agency”), according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
In general, the number of participants in the country’s non-banking financial market in May decreased from 1,045 (as of April 30, 2024) to 1,014 (as of May 31, 2024).
The number of banks remained unchanged – 63.
According to the NBU, 26 financial companies, one risk insurer and two pawnshops were forcibly removed from the register. At the same time, one collection company and two credit unions were excluded on the applicant’s initiative. At the same time, one collection company was included in the register.
During May, eight financial companies, one insurer and one pawnshop had all their licenses revoked forcibly, while another 18 financial companies, one pawnshop and two credit unions had their licenses revoked voluntarily.
As of May 31, 2024, 555 financial companies (581 in April), 83 non-life insurers (84), 12 life insurers (the number has not changed), one insurer with special status, 119 pawnshops (121), 125 credit unions (127), five lessors, 40 insurance brokers and 74 collection companies (the number has not changed) were operating in the market of non-banking financial services.
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine carried out the debut sale of the nationalized plant: at the repeated auction in the system “Prozorro.Sales” was sold for 103.11 million UAH plant for the production of meat casing PJSC “PentoPak” (Boryspil), said the head of the SPF Vitaly Koval.
“The buyer has 20 days to pay the cost of the lot. In addition to the proposed cost, the investor has already paid a guarantee fee of UAH 20.375 million”, – he said in Telegram.
The head of the FGI reminded that “PentoPak” was confiscated from the family of Russian-Greek oligarch Savvidi, and the funds from its sale will go to the restoration of our state in the Fund for the elimination of the consequences of Russian aggression.
The buyer was Lonikos LLC (Kiev), whose director is Larisa Ashkinazi.
According to the Opendatabot, the main activity of the company is renting and operating its own or leased real estate. Also “Lonikos” is engaged in non-specialized wholesale trade and activities of intermediaries specializing in trade in other goods.
As reported, on May 31, after the first fruitless auction scheduled on “Prozorro.Sales”, the plant was put up for a second auction at a halved price – for UAH 101.87 million.
The FGI reported that the plant provides a full cycle of production of packaging for meat processing products. “PentoPak” produces multi-layer synthetic shrink casing, using advanced technologies. The company’s customers include well-known Ukrainian brands such as Rud, Globino, Meat Guild, as well as customers from more than 30 countries.
The enterprise has preserved 193 jobs, has no debts on wages and to the budget. The company plans to modernize production and enter new markets of packaging materials for the dairy industry, fish processing and animal feed packaging.
Earlier, in February 2024, the SACS decided to confiscate Savvidi’s property and transfer 100% of PentoPak shares to the State Property Fund, as the oligarch has close ties with the Russian leadership and supports the occupation authorities in the temporarily seized territories of Ukraine.
Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Natalia Kalmykova and Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Ukraine Mustafa Levent Bilgen reached an agreement on cooperation in the field of rehabilitation of servicemen at a meeting.
“We are very grateful for the assistance provided to Ukraine by the Republic of Turkey. Now the list of such assistance has been expanded to include cooperation in the rehabilitation sector. A pilot project for the rehabilitation of military personnel has recently been launched. Its goal is to create an effective rehabilitation space with the participation of civilian and military health care facilities, social services, and local governments,” Kalmykova said.
As reported, the pilot project envisages, among other things, the creation of centers of excellence – institutions that will take the lead in rehabilitation.
On June 11 and 12, the German government, in partnership with the government of Ukraine, will host the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024) with the aim of supporting Ukraine’s economic and social recovery from Russia’s war of aggression.
On the day before URC2024 begins, GMF will convene 200 representatives from Ukraine’s municipalities, cities, and regions, as well as civil society actors, philanthropists, and business and media representatives from Ukraine and its partner countries to explore the local dimension of reconstruction, recovery and reform. Under the theme All Reconstruction is Local, the pre-conference aims to investigate the following questions: What are the benefits and limitations of city and state twinning as well as regional cooperation models? How can improved cooperation be fostered between national and local reconstruction plans rather than competition? What are the human capital and project management needs at the local level? How will access to finance and insurance be distributed at the local level? How can EU regulations, sustainability and the highest transparency standards be ensured locally?
The agenda will feature discussions looking at concrete partnership models aiming to support Ukrainian cities and regions but will also dive deeper into specific policy areas including rebuilding the local energy sector, anti-corruption efforts and the question of local ownership vs. wartime centralization. Speakers at the event will include both policy makers from the United States, Europe, and Ukraine, as well as civil society and private sector representatives. Some of the sessions of the event will be live-streamed and therefore also available to an online audience, while other sessions will take place under Chatham House rules to enable an open and honest discussion among participants.
https://www.gmfus.org/all-reconstruction-local-forum-eve-ukraine-recovery-conference
Ukrainians who had a permit for temporary collective protection from war in Norway, but whose permit was revoked or not renewed, cannot subsequently obtain it again.
The corresponding tightening to the protection rules was adopted by the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Safety on May 31, according to a press release from the agency.
“Norway spends a lot of money on accelerated processing and resettlement of Ukrainian asylum seekers under a special scheme. The Center Party and the Labor Party in the government think it is wrong that asylum seekers who have voluntarily returned or have broken the rules should receive special treatment again,” Norwegian Justice and Public Safety Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said.
According to the Directorate of Immigration, about 2,000 Ukrainians with temporary collective protection have not received an extension of their one-year residence permit in Norway. In many cases, these are people who have moved back to Ukraine or other European countries. These people will no longer be able to receive collective protection in Norway if they apply for it again; instead, they will be referred to the normal individual asylum procedure.
The Minister also does not rule out the possibility of further tightening the rules for temporary collective protection in Norway.
“Immigration must be sustainable. We are therefore considering further tightening of the temporary collective protection scheme,” Mel indicated.
As reported, on March 11, 2022, the Norwegian government introduced a temporary collective protection scheme for displaced persons from Ukraine. This scheme means that those covered by it are granted a residence permit under a simplified procedure and without individual assessment.
According to Eurostat, at the end of March this year, Norway had 70.69 thousand citizens with temporary protection status from the war in Ukraine, compared to 52.61 thousand at the end of August 2023 and 66.94 thousand at the end of 2023.
A total of 4 million 211.5 thousand citizens of non-EU countries who left Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022 had temporary protection status in the EU countries as of March 31, 2024. Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98% of temporary protection beneficiaries.
According to Eurostat data, at the end of March 2024, the main EU countries that received temporary protection beneficiaries from Ukraine were Germany (1 million 301.79 thousand people; 30.9% of the total), Poland (955.52 thousand people; 22.7%) and the Czech Republic (364.38 thousand people; 8.7%). The combined share of these three countries is 62.3%.
