Political expert Volodymyr Volia has shared his opinion about development prospects of the EU, the economic situation today and the consequences of the pandemic, as well as made forecasts about the revival of the Schengen Area exclusively for the Expert Kitchen program on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
According to the expert, the EU has faced several unpleasant events lately, such as the Brexit referendum and the so-called coronavirus crisis, and if the second wave of the pandemic occurs, the recession may get even worse and trigger a social crisis, poverty and unemployment.
“As the economy of Europe has been seriously affected since February, we may witness even a longer halt that will ‘kill’ the economy of the EU,” Volia said.
He added that as of the middle of April alone the EU has sustained a loss of more than EUR 3 trillion, which equals the annual federal budget of the United States. The expert also forecasted the exacerbation of the argument between the EU member states on the allocation of sales quotas, which are especially important to the countries of the Eastern and Southeast Europe, assistance and contributions to the EU budget.
In the expert’s opinion, the revival prospects of the Schengen Area look more optimistic.
“I think the movement inside the Schengen Area will be completely resumed by the end of June. As to the states, which are not a part of this area, a piecemeal approach will be applied to them. The epidemiological situation in each specific country will be taken into account and the regions of the world will be determined for the simplification of the procedure. Certainly, everything will also depend on the purpose of travel,” he said.
Volia also noted that tourism in the non-Schengen countries will be revived almost in full by the beginning of July.
The Expert Club jointly with Doctor of Biological Sciences Sviatoslav Leonov launch a series of videos about healthy and harmful nutrition.
Nowadays unhealthy nutrition is one of the main risk factors for public health. A major study of mortality causes, which was conducted by researchers in 2017, showed that every fifth death in the world is caused by high consumption of salt, transfat, sugar, overconsumption of sweet carbonated beverages and red meat. Meanwhile, healthy food like whole grain, fruit, seeds and nuts are gradually displaced by harmful products.
In 2017, more than 1.5 million people in the world died of diseases connected with diarrhea caused by poor nutrition. Food poisoning and unhealthy eating in general have been among the top ten causes for deaths for a long time, and in some countries – among the top three causes.
The Expert Club jointly with Doctor of Biological Sciences Sviatoslav Leonov start a project on healthy nutrition in modern society. It is aimed at determining the main risk factors related to unhealthy nutrition, discussing myths and stereotypes, collecting expert opinions on the subject. Initially, the project will have the format of educational mini-interviews with infographics. In the future, we are planning to create a discussion platform for specialists with various points of view.
The pilot video about the main unhealthy food products and harmful food additives is already available on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
The Ukrainian President has established the Council of Experts on Energy Security, the press service of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) has reported.
“[NSDC Secretary Oleksiy] Danilov informed the audience that in order to ensure an effective response of the state to threats to energy security and identify strategic directions for the development of the state’s fuel and energy complex, taking into account the latest world trends, the President of Ukraine established the Council of Experts on Energy Security, which will be the highest advisory body for the Head of State and the National Security Council of Ukraine on energy issues,” the press service said.
Danilov said that to prepare recommendations for the Council of Experts and ensure its work, a working group on the development of the hydrogen economy has been set up at the Staff of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
“During the meeting, a number of measures were agreed to organize the effective work of the group in order to submit to the country’s leadership proposals for innovative approaches to the development of non-traditional energy sources,” the press service said.
The working group on hydrogen economy development should prepare and submit to the Council of Experts on Energy Security proposals on developing the hydrogen economy in Ukraine.
The NSDC Secretary stressed the urgency of developing the hydrogen economy: “This issue is extremely important in today’s world. Ukraine has great potential in this area, which we must use it.”
“Today we have specialists, resources, and investors. To get real results, we need to combine the efforts of science, business, and government,” he said.
The local election campaign has begun and the regional elites started investing in headquarters, advertising and PR campaigns. The local elites used the situation with the quarantine and poor coordination of events in the top-down system for self-promotion before the elections due on October 25, 2020, political technologist Kyrylo Molchanov, who is also an expert at the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, said.
In the second program “Expert Kitchen” on the Expert Club YouTube channel, Molchanov made assessment of the incumbent mayors’ chances to be re-elected for a new tenure at the upcoming elections.
The expert said that Hennadiy Kernes in Kharkiv, Vitali Klitschko in Kyiv and Hennadiy Trukhanov in Odesa have the highest chances to stay on their posts. He also noted that one should expect the most interesting election campaigns in Dnipro and Lviv, where Andriy Sadovy has lost his positions in recent years.
Speaking about prospects of parties, the expert said that some political forces continue dominating in certain regions where they used to be popular. The main struggle will take place between the Opposition Platform – For Life and the Servant of the People in southeastern Ukraine, between the Servant of the People and Batkivschyna in central regions, and the so-called pro-European and nationalist forces in western Ukraine.
According to Molchanov, the ruling party in general will fail to repeat the success of its previous campaigns as its popularity continues declining. Therefore, the Servant of the People will have to form coalitions with other parties in regions, which may result into unexpected political consequences both in Ukraine’s regions and, hence, in the central government.
Find more details about the 2020 local election campaign in the video on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, EXPERT KITCHEN, LOCAL ELECTIONS, MOLCHANOV
International relations expert of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Danylo Bohatyriov has said that the upcoming elections in the United States will be one of the dirtiest in the country’s history.
During the debut program “Expert Kitchen” on the Expert Club YouTube channel, Bogatyriov said that Trump’s chances to be re-elected to a second term are still rather high, although the situation with the coronavirus epidemic and chaos in the healthcare system may have a negative impact on his prospects.
The expert emphasized that despite numerous scandals during Trump’s tenure he managed to fulfill most of his campaign promises, and in the eyes of his voters he is an extremely effective president, who has returned to the United States a portion of industrial facilities, which had been withdrawn from the country earlier. In addition, he created hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
However, the heavy mortality from COVID-19 and the inability of the country’s healthcare system to cope with the number of infected American citizens could be used by Trump’s opponents during the entire election campaign, which could salvage the campaign of his main rival – 77-year-old Joe Biden.
INTEGRITES becomes the only Ukrainian law firm to receive recognition of two arbitration experts out of eight representing Ukraine in the international guide Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration 2020. The recently published edition of the guide acknowledges outstanding expertise of Olena Perepelynska, partner and head of International Arbitration at INTEGRITES, and ranks her one of the leading arbitration practitioners. For the third year in a row the guide recognises Serhii Uvarov, counsel, International arbitration and Cross-Border Litigation, among Future Leaders-Non-partners – an honour that is presented annually to young experts, aged 45 or under.
Serving as the President of the Ukrainian Arbitration Association and Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and having over 16 years of experience in international commercial arbitration, Olena Perepelynska is one of the leading experts in the regional arbitration community. She focuses on international arbitration and cross-border dispute resolution, with particular expertise in agribusiness, retail, and natural resources. Since 2003, she has acted as an arbitrator and counsel in more than 120 arbitrations under the arbitration rules of the ICC, LCIA, SCC, SCAI, ICAC at CCIRF, ICAC and MAC at UCCI, IAC at the BelCCI, GAFTA, FOSFA, LMAA, UNCITRAL.
Who is Who Legal: Arbitration 2020 says that Olena Perepelynska is “an eminent arbitration practitioner”, distinguished as “a very dynamic and hard-working lawyer with a strong intellect”.
Serhii Uvarov focuses on the areas of commercial and investment arbitration, arbitration-related litigation and cross-border commercial litigation with particular expertise in energy sector, including renewables. He has been involved in arbitral proceedings under the LCIA, SCC, ICC, UNCITRAL, JAMS, LMAA, ICAC at CCIRF and ICAC at UCCI arbitration rules. He has represented Ukrainian state authorities and state companies before foreign courts and international tribunals. Serhii has also advised clients on transnational insolvency, fraud investigations including anti-bribery probes and enforcement of foreign judicial and arbitral awards in Ukraine. Since 2017, Serhii has served as the Secretary General of the Ukrainian Arbitration Association.
Who is Who Legal: Arbitration 2020 says that he “has great expertise and a very strong professional track-record” in arbitration. One peer commented: “Without a doubt, Serhii is a future star of arbitration in Europe.”
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Since 1996, Who’s Who Legal has identified the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law. WWL features over 24,000 of the world’s leading private practice lawyers and 2,500 consulting experts from over 150 national jurisdictions. WWL Arbitration lists 1926 practitioners from 1267 firms in 97 jurisdictions across this practice area.
