• www.promoteukraine.org • Promote • Промуй Україну • 1

KYIV AND MOSCOW: FROM PARTNERSHIP TO COMPETITION

ASSESSING EU’S TRANSFORMATIVE POWER IN UKRAINE

E-VOTING IN UKRAINE: ADVANCEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

THE FERTILE SOIL OF UKRAINE: NURTURING INNOVATION

APRIL 2020 Brussels Ukraїna Review Brussels Ukraїna Review Огляд Україна Брюссель Edition – 1 April 2020 EDITOR’S Journal is published in Ukrainian and English FOREWORD Online: www.promoteukraine.org

Publisher: ear readers and In this issue, you will learn NGO «Promote Ukraine» experts! We have about change of the government www.promoteukraine.org prepared the sec- in Ukraine, Ukraine’s digital po- ond issue of the tential, the non-military struggle Address: Brussels Ukraїna between Ukraine and Russia, the Velyka Zhytomyrska 33 Review for print controversy over the handling of Office 611 before the coronavirus pandem- the investigation into the murder 01601 D ic intervened in the lives of each of journalist Pavlo Sheremet, and Address of the of us. These tragic circumstances much more. Starting with this Belgian NGO «Promote Ukraine»: have forced us to decide whether to issue, we are also introducing Veldstraat 24 print the journal after the end of the “Cultural Pages”, where we will 1731 Relegem quarantine or to launch the maga- write about European elements of Belgium zine online now. Ukrainian culture and vice versa, Although the pandemic has as well as about Ukrainian tradi- Email: somewhat changed the way we tions and interesting places to visit [email protected] spend our days, the issues raised in Ukraine. Editor-in-chief: before it started have not disap- Marta Barandiy peared. And the longer we wait, the Enjoy reading! more urgent they become. That is Marta Barandiy Editors: why we are offering a selection of Evhenia Kolomiyets-Ludwig our experts’ articles right now. Alina Nychyk Natalia Richardson We still have some articles and interviews, which we intended to Editorial assistant: include in this issue, remaining. Nathan Stormont We plan to print them in the third Ideas for illustrations: issue of the journal. We hope it Maxim Stepanov will be soon.

Design and visualisation: Anna Chernysh-Poltoratska

Journal «Brussels Ukraїna Review» is distributed free of charge among researchers, experts, opinion leaders, government officials and politicians of Ukraine and the European Union. Reproduction of the materials of the Journal is permitted only with the reference to the Journal. Opinions and other content published by the authors in the Journal, do not necessarily reflect the position of the Board of editors. Author is solely responsible for the content of the material he/she provides. Author is only responsible for the material, provided in the original language. Translation of the materials is made by a third party on the request of the Publisher. The Publisher is not responsible for the goods and services, advertised within the publication. Photos are from open sources. 2 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 3

EDITOR’S UKRAINE VERSUS RUSSIA 02 Editor`s Foreword 28 Kyiv and Moscow: from

FOREWORD partnership to competition UKRAINE IN APRIL 2020 Ilya Tarasyuk

04 Ukraine anticipates new 31 against Gazprom challanges Ilya Tarasyuk Ilya Tarasyuk

CONTROVERSY ANTI-CORRUPTION

34 Sheremet’s case: a demand 07 Assessing eu’s transformative for truth against a political power in Ukraine: six years of order anti-corruption conditionality Leonid Shvets Christina Parandii

EU PROCESSES DIGITALIZATION

37 The future of 11 E-voting in Ukraine: SPITZENKANDIDATEN advancements, challenges and system perspectives Roman Nekoliak Dmytro Khutkyy

CULTURAL PAGES GREEN ENERGY - INVESTMENT 40 Lake Synevyr: the eye OPPORTUNITIES of the sea in the Carpathian mountains 14 Ukraine is the future leader Ilya Tarasyuk of decarbonisation in Europe Philipp Leckebusch 43 Ukrainian is à la mode! Natalia Tolub INNOVATIONS AND REFORMS

17 The fertile soil of Ukraine: nurturing innovation Anna Gubanova

20 The rules on the labour market. What are the chances for updates? Inna Krupnik but the main ones concerned the government’s failure to execute the budget, the dramatic decrease in in- dustrial production, and the lack of UKRAINEUKRAINE effective decisions to reduce utility tariffs, among others. In his speech during the special ANTICIPATESANTICIPATES plenary session of the on 4 March, President Volody- myr Zelensky noted that “[t]his is a NEWNEW government of new faces, but just faces are not enough. We need new brains and new hearts. This govern- CHALLENGESCHALLENGES ment knows what to do, but it is not enough – it really demands a lot of ILYA TARASYUK IS A WELL-KNOWN UKRAINIAN work, which has to be done.” The Parliament supported the JOURNALIST WHOSE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN President’s initiative and dismissed PUBLISHED BY LEADING UKRAINIAN BUSINESS Honcharuk’s government, voting in favour of the new Cabinet head- PUBLICATIONS FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS. ed by . At the same SPECIALIZES IN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL time, a number of high-ranking of- ficials retained their seats. In par- TOPICS. HE GRADUATED FROM THE KYIV-MOHYLA ticular, Deputy Prime Minister for ACADEMY WITH A DEGREE IN PHILOLOGY. European and Euro-Atlantic Inte- gration and Foreign Minister switched posts in the new Cabinet, testifying to ’s confidence in these people and his satisfaction with their performance. he beginning of The change of the Ukrainian spring marked Cabinet of Ministers did not go the commence- unnoticed by the rest of the world, ment of serious but it did not cause any reso- political and nance. Thus, the US Embassy has economic turbu- traditionally congratulated the lenceT for Ukraine. On the one hand, new Prime Minister of Ukraine on Ukraine faces the impact of world- his appointment and expressed wide processes related to the fight of the hope for “close cooperation”. all countries against the coronavirus But the European Union reacted (COVID-19) pandemic. On the other differently. Peter Stano, spokes- hand, in our country a global prob- person for EU foreign policy, and lem has exposed a number of import- Josep Borrell, the EU’s security ant internal issues that the current chief, said the EU expected the government is trying to tackle. new Ukrainian government to strengthen its fight against cor- Change of Government ruption and its determination to implement reforms. Dissatisfied with the lack of fast re- sults of the government, which was ap- pointed on August 29, 2019, and hoping Ukraine is in for better preparation of the new team quarantine for the new challenges facing Ukraine, the decided to change the government. In current circumstances, one There was relatively little critique of of the most problematic issues in Oleksii Honcharuk’s Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine actually appeared to be УКРАЇНА КВІТНІ В 2020 the medical sector. The implemen- 4 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 5 tation of medical reforms was Currently, the authorities are able started by the government of for- to work more or less effectively. De- mer prime minister Volodymyr spite some criticisms, the authori- Hroisman. The performance of ties have, however, achieved some According to critics, the Health Minister Zoriana Skalets- positive results: although borders ka in Honcharuk’s Cabinet raised have closed globally, the govern- signing of the agreement many questions and complaints ment successfully evacuated tens of on the creation of an due to Skaletska’s perceived lack thousands of Ukrainians from many Advisory Council in of experience, decisive steps tak- countries. The authorities did this en in the ministry, and follow- by arranging special flights, addi- effect recognises the ing a number of scandals. Doc- tional trains, and the Foreign Min- sovereignty of the illegal tors were confused, and many of istry promptly contacted the gov- them demanded to stop the sec- ernments of countries where our armed separatist groups, ond phase of the medical reform. compatriots were stuck at the bor- the Donetsk People’s Under these conditions, the ders. Almost all issues have been outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic resolved positively. Republic (DNR) and finally showed cause that the post On the other hand, the authori- the Luhansk People’s of Minister of Health of Ukraine ties took into account the key fail- must be held by a serious and ex- ure of the previous government – Republic (LNR), which perienced person. The Verkhovna the lack of information provided to are supported and Rada voted to approve the appoint- the population. The President has ment of a well-known surgeon, played an active role in the process controlled by Russia. Illia Yemets, who had previously and now frequently appears on the headed the Ministry of Health in screens, addressing the nation. The becomes an observer, along 2010-2011. But after Yemets made Prime Minister, law enforcement with Germany, France and the some controversial comments officials, and local leaders also pro- Organization for Security and about the impact of coronavirus vide explanations to the media. All Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). on those aged 65+ during his TV of them persuade Ukrainians to The signing of such a docu- interview, he was dismissed. On adhere to the recommendations ment caused a wave of criticism the 30th of March Maksym Ste- of doctors, to act together, and to among politicians and pro- panov was appointed a new Min- avoid panic. This will minimise the tests in many Ukrainian cities. ister of Health of Ukraine. effects of the dangerous pandemic. The largest protest took place In the meantime, Ukraine be- in Kyiv, despite the quarantine gan to prepare for the spread of The Minsk “Virus” measures. People demanded the COVID-19. On 17 March, at an resignation of Yermak and ex- extraordinary session of Verkhov- In the meantime, for many planations from the authorities. na Rada, Prime Minister Denys Ukrainians the risk of catching According to critics, the sign- Schmyhal stated that “12,000 beds COVID-19 is relegated to the back- ing of the agreement on the cre- in infectious disease departments ground as there is another threat ation of an Advisory Council in have been prepared,” and the gov- on the horizon – the possible be- effect recognises the sovereign- ernment had allocated additional trayal of national interests. ty of the illegal armed separatist finances to provide doctors with On 11 March a meeting of the groups, the Donetsk People’s Re- emergency protection. Trilateral Contact Group took public (DNR) and the Luhansk Given the current state of medi- place in Minsk, Belarus, attended People’s Republic (LNR), which cine in the country and the serious by the Head of the Office of the are supported and controlled lack of funds, advanced equipment, President of Ukraine, Andrii Yer- by Russia. Critics are also con- and facilities, everyone understands mak, and Dmytro Kozak, the Rus- cerned that such recognition also that it will be extremely difficult sian official responsible for the gives legitimacy to the Kremlin’s to cope with a dangerous disease. Ukrainian matters in the Krem- narrative that hostilities in east- Again, the Ukrainian authorities lin. After the meeting, the parties ern Ukraine are an “internal con- decided to act early – the Cabinet signed a document establishing flict” – despite the illegal armed of Ministers adopted a decision to an Advisory Council. It stipulates units in the occupied Donbas re- declare a quarantine from 12 March negotiations between the plenipo- ceiving weapons, ammunition, to 24 April. With significant restric- tentiaries of Ukraine, on the one energy, and even funding from tions, people have fewer contacts hand, and its separate districts in the Russian Federation (the Rus- and thus there is a lower chance Donetsk and Luhansk regions, on sian rouble is used in the so-called of contracting the disease. the other hand. Instead, Russia DNR and LNR!). The signing of the dubious doc- Yermak tried to convince those pres- ument has become so resonant ent that Ukraine would not cross the that it has caused a wave of op- “red line” and that no one would position not only from opponents negotiate with the militants. At the of the present authorities, but same time, critics asked a reasonable also from some deputies from the question: why, then, did the govern- One of the disgruntled presidential majority in Verkhov- ment sign the document at all? Servant of the People na Rada. About two dozen depu- This story continued – one of the ties of the “Servant of the People” disgruntled Servant of the People deputies, Heo Leros, faction shared a statement ap- deputies, Heo Leros, gave an in- gave an interview in pealing to President Zelensky not terview in which he criticized Yer- to permit the representatives of mak’s and Syvokho’s actions with which he criticized the temporarily occupied territo- regard to Donbas. After that, the Yermak’s and Syvokho’s ries of the Donetsk and Luhansk President of Ukraine dismissed regions to the Advisory Council. Leros from the position of his ad- actions with regard to The number of dissatisfied peo- visor. On the 30th of March Syvok- Donbas. After that, the ple is much higher, but some ho was dismissed from the posi- have not dared to voice their tion of the advisor to the NSDC. President of Ukraine position publicly. Some opinion Meanwhile, the authorities dismissed Leros from the leaders, experts and politicians continue to insist that the docu- insist that an act of capitulation ment signed in Minsk does not position of his advisor. has been signed in Minsk. contradict the interests of our Against the backdrop of this country. Foreign Minister Dm- Advisory Council are “not repre- scandal, another one, directly ytro Kuleba therefore gave as- sentatives of the authorities, but related to the first, broke out. surances that members of the representatives of the society of the On 12 March, Serhii Syvokho, part of Ukraine we belong to. They advisor to the Secretary of the will be able to talk with the mem- National Security and Defence bers of society, not with fighters, Council (NSDC) organised a with those people who live in the oc- presentation of the National cupied territories.” Platform for Reconciliation and Unity in Donbas where Fights and new he implied that the conflict in Despite some criticisms, Ukraine is “internal”. However, the authorities have, challenges the event was thwarted by an- ti-terrorist operation veterans however, achieved some In the meantime, due to the prob- who demanded that Syvokho positive results: although lem of spread of the coronavirus in clearly explain with whom ex- Ukraine and the introduction of actly Ukraine should restore borders have closed quarantine measures, the issue of peace in Donbas and who ex- globally, the govern- signing the Agreement of the Advi- actly staged armed aggression sory Council in Minsk has been put against Ukraine. Not receiving ment successfully evac- on the wayside. But the reasons for an answer, the activists re- uated tens of thousands the scandal are still there. moved Syvokho from the hall. Nevertheless, Ukrainians should Syvokho later stated that he of Ukrainians from many remain calm despite the COVID-19 “shared the same direction” countries. The authori- pandemic, the onset of a new glob- as Andriy Yermak. al financial crisis, governmental However, these actions ties did this by arranging changes in our country, and difficult were not appreciated by special flights, addition- negotiations over Donbas. At the pro-Ukrainian forces, so the same time, civil society should influ- officials on Bankova Street al trains, and the Foreign ence the government and demon- should have reacted. First Ministry promptly con- strate its firmness in defending the of all, they tried to calm the national interests. Servant of the People depu- tacted the governments In the future, unity and harmony ties. Andriy Yermak met with of countries where our will be required even more, as our dissatisfied lawmakers to ex- compatriots were stuck country has a few internal resources plain his actions. According to escape from the economic reces- to insiders, this meeting was at the borders. sion, and we cannot count on exter- highly emotional, although nal ones in the current conditions. 6 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 7 ASSESSINGASSESSING EU’S EU’S TRANSFORMATIVETRANSFORMATIVE POWER POWER IN UKRAINE:IN UKRAINE: SIX SIXYEARS YEARS OF ANTI-CORRUPTIONOF ANTI-ORRUPTION CONDITIONALITYCONDITIONALITY

CHRISTINA PARANDII IS THE CLARA MARINA O’DONNELL urbulent developments fol- lowing the EuromaidanT Revolu- FELLOW AT THE CENTRE FOR tion have made the EU an influen- EUROPEAN REFORM, BASED tial reform actor in Ukraine. All the biggest breakthroughs happening IN LONDON. HER AREAS over the past six years in in a pri- OF EXPERTISE COVER EU ority reform area, the fight against corruption, were subject to the FOREIGN POLICY (WITH EU’s conditionality. This includes the establishment of the new an- AN EMPHASIS ON THE ti-corruption institutional frame- EASTERN PARTNERSHIP work, the overhaul of the public procurement system, increased COUNTRIES), TRANSATLANTIC transparency of government data- RELATIONS AND DEMOCRACY bases, and the launch of the elec- tronic system of asset declaration PROMOTION. for public officials. But Ukraine’s progress in implementation of these and other reforms stipulated by the EU’s programmes has been uneven. So why did some of the anti-corruption initiatives stall, - yet others succeed? What lessons can be learnt from the EU’s condi- tionality policy? To start with, the EU’s role in promoting anti-corruption re- forms is particularly interesting given that its agenda for Ukraine does not mirror the EU’s inter- nal policy templates, as the EU institutions do not have legal competence to regulate this do- main in member states. ANTI CORRUPTION Oligarchic influences, ineffective functioning of the judicial system, a lack of corruption- related convictions, and excessively broad powers of law enforcement structures in investigating economic crimes are still worrisome, despite the renewal of political leadership in 2019.

Policy prescriptions, outlined in the State Building Contract, Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP), and Macro-financial as- sistance (MFA) programmes, were all tailored to Ukraine’s specific situation, based on the recommendations of other inter- national organisations (the Coun- cil of Europe, GRECO, OECD, SIGMA, UNCTAD) and initiatives of Ukrainian civil society. And al- though the EU is often criticised for excessive bureaucracy, its in- volvement in the reform promo- tion in Ukraine has been strategi- cally flexible. First, the EU started with gen- erally framed requirements in the €355 million State Building Contract, its first stabilisation programme for Ukraine, and lat- er elaborated those anti-corrup- tion conditions in VLAP reviews and in its programmes of low-in- terest loans (MFA III and IV), jointly amounting to €2.8 billion. 8 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 9 This consistency of priorities across different programmes enabled the EU, in cooperation with other re- form players, to maintain leverage on the process. As a result, the new anti-corruption bodies (the Nation- tem, a lack of corruption-relat- al Anti-Corruption Bureau, Special- ed convictions, and excessively ised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s broad powers of law enforcement Office, National Agency of Corrup- structures in investigating eco- tion Prevention, Asset Recovery and Fourth, the EU’s political an- nomic crimes are still worrisome, Management Agency, and the High ti-corruption conditionalities despite the renewal of political

Anti-Corruption Court) were not have been backed by relevant leadership in 2019. The EU should simply created on paper, but have technical assistance, such as keep those issues on its radar and also received adequate rules and the EU Anti-corruption Initia- find a way to incorporate some of tools for their effective functioning tive (EUACI). This programme these pressing problems into its despite the resistance of domestic supports the operational and broader political agenda. vested interests. policy-making capacities of This is particularly challeng-

Second, the EU levered very suc- the new anti-graft institutions, ing, given that the EU lost it most cessful coordination both within the parliamentary Anti-corrup- powerful reform leverage in 2017, its own different structures (the Ex- tion Committee, as well as the when the visa-free regime came ternal Action Service and the Com- activities of local and regional into force, while its financial in- mission’s various Directorates-Gen- civil society and media organi- strument of influence is about to eral) and with external partners sations covering this area. expire soon, when the last MFA (Ukrainian government and civil Finally, the EU has been em- tranche, worth €500 million, will “ society, international financial insti- powering Ukrainian domes- be disbursed. Moreover, the key tutions and donors, other states). As tic reform actors, in particular obstacle to reforms – opposition the establishment of the High An- NGOs and activists, involved in from ‘veto players’ in political and ti-Corruption Court demonstrates, designing reform roadmaps and economic circles − has not evap- the EU’s conditionality has been monitoring the implementation orated. The dispute over most effective when aligned with of Western conditionalities. The nationalising Privat- other important international play- EU has also provided political Bank is just ers, such as the International Mon- support to Ukraine’s civil soci- the tip etary Fund and G7 countries. To ety when dubious legislation on achieve synergy in various EU poli- discriminatory asset declaration cies towards Kyiv, a special division for civic activists was introduced within the Commission – the Sup- in 2017. Consequently, these an- port Group for Ukraine − was estab- ti-constitutional provisions were lished in April 2014 and remains the eventually abolished in June 2019. only country-specific EU task force But despite these tactical suc- for the Eastern region. cesses on the EU’s end, it is still Third, apart from corruption in- too early for complacency. Al- vestigations and prosecutions, the though Ukraine has made a lot of EU has also been supporting ini- progress in fighting corruption tiatives to reduce the space for cor- since 2013, moving 18 positions of the iceberg. Hence, the EU will ruption in broader governance ar- up from 144th place on Transpar- need to update its reform promo- eas: public administration, public ency International’s Corruption tion toolbox, drawing on its own finance management, the energy Perception Index, it is still very lessons learned from the past en- sector, banking system, healthcare, far from being a corruption-free gagements. and the privatisation of state-owned state. Kyiv has been much more enterprises − just to name a few. effective in adopting required leg- Moreover, specific anti-corruption islation than in comprehensively priorities have been incorporated implementing it. Even those re- in the broader EU-Ukraine Associa- forms that have already been un- tion Agenda for annual Association dertaken should be continuous- Council meetings, which made it a ly monitored to avoid rollback. notable point for discussion on the Oligarchic influences, ineffective level of the EU and Ukraine’s polit- functioning of the judicial sys- ical leadership. Although Ukraine’s domestic resistance to corruption investi- gation and prosecution has been very strong over the past six years, reforms that enhance transpar- ency through opening up govern- In December 2019, the EU is- mental registries and digitalising sued its regular Association Im- public services made their way plementation Report on Ukraine, much easier. The EU should con- where references to corruption-re- tinue to support these initiatives lated problems were missing for with technical expertise and as- the first time. It may be seen as a sist independent media and NGOs welcoming signal from Brussels with capacity-building to inves- to the new authorities, but the EU tigate this data in order to hold should continue to rigidly moni- the government to account. This tor the situation on the ground. So would enhance good governance far, due to its carefully calibrated and incrementally narrow down approach, the EU managed to find the space where vested interests the right balance between putting can have an upper hand. a firm pressure on the authorities In what concerns the ‘politi- to carry out structural reforms cal’, harder-to-pursue, aspects of and supporting Ukraine’s stability the anti-corruption reform, the in the light of Russia’s military ag- EU should maintain Ukraine’s As the establishment gression. But the EU needs to pre- track record in this domain as serve its crucial reform role in the a necessary precondition for an of the High country even after all the existing ever-closer partnership. This re- conditionality programmes are Anti-Corruption quires the EU to invest its political fulfilled, and to do so, it should capital into establishing strategic Court demonstrates, nurture its positive image in the relations with Ukraine’s new lead- eyes of Ukrainian public by show- ership and to embed anti-corrup- the EU’s conditionality casing the benefits of integration tion goals in the long-term coop- with the EU to people across the has been most eration programs, whether they country. effective when aligned would concern initiatives on bi- lateral sectoral integration, new with other important offers under the revised Eastern Partnership Policy or additional international funding from the EU’s beefed-up players, such as external action budget, which is currently being negotiated as part the International of 2021-2027 Multi-Annual Financial Frame- Monetary Fund and work. G7 countries.

10 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 11 E-VOTINGE-VOTING IN IN UKRAINE: UKRAINE: ADVANCEMENTS,ADVANCEMENTS, CHALLENGESCHALLENGES ANDAND PERSPECTIVESPERSPECTIVES

Introduction

id you know that popular e-voting has been practised in Ukraine at least Khutkyy and Kristina Avramchen- since 2015? ko, in the first cycle (from 2015) already as many as 123 commu- D nities (over 91 percent of all sur- It has been indeed – for various purposes and at different levels of veyed) have introduced either governance. While electronic vot- mixed electronic-paper or exclu- ing can be either offline via elec- sively electronic voting for choos- tronic voting devices or online via ing development projects. At the the Internet (i-voting), in Ukraine national level, e-voting has been carried out for choosing priori-

DIGITAL IZATION the former has been used by elect- ed officials and the latter by the ties for open government reforms. public. As the Secretariat of the Cabinet In a broader sense, e-voting has of Ministers of Ukraine report- been utilised for choosing poli- ed, from 2016 the general public cies. At the local level, it has been has been voting online for Open applied for selecting participatory Government Partnership initia- budgeting community develop- tive undertakings. Despite being ment projects – initiatives for im- non-binding, the results of these proving a community put forward, popular votes de facto shaped the deliberated, and decided upon by list of commitments later adopted its residents, which local authori- and implemented by the executive ties are bound to implement. Ac- government. cording to a recent 2019 study by In a narrower sense, e-voting independent researchers Dmytro was employed for electing rep- resentatives –that is, for e-elec- tions. Similarly, Ukrainian citi- - zens have engaged in e-elections DMYTRO KHUTKYY POLICY LEADER of both community and country- FELLOW AT THE SCHOOL OF wide scope. At the municipal lev- el, since 2018 Kyiv City Council TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNANCE, has ruled that Kyivians elect civil EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, society organisations for the par- ticipatory budgeting commission FLORENCE, ITALY (1) electronically. At the state level, according to re- are qualified digital signatures on spective official announcements, microchipped national ID-cards. since 2015 citizens of Ukraine have Yet few Ukrainian citizens pos- been e-electing representatives for sess them. As the State Migrations public councils at the National An- Service of Ukraine has reported, ti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine by the end of January 2020 it had during analogue elections, the and some other agencies. All these issued over 4.3 million of national absence of supervision in remote e-elections were binding. ID-cards. This constitutes slightly voting amplifies these risks. While However, in Ukraine e-vot- over 12 percent of the 35.5 mil- with remote e-voting the state can- ing has not yet been applied for lion eligible voters in Ukraine, not guarantee the right for a direct electing either members of local according to data of the Central and secret ballot, it can mitigate councils or members of the na- Election Committee of Ukraine. the risks by granting a voter the tional parliament. Besides, as the survey by Factum possibility of unlimited changes Group Ukraine demonstrated, in of a ballot until the end of election Visions and designs late 2019 as many as 71 percent of day and by introducing the back- residents of Ukraine aged 15 years up option of offline voting after and older used the Internet. This Nevertheless, the newly elect- the online one. This would require constitutes the identification reli- ed politicians anticipate the a profound legal, financial, and ability versus inclusiveness dilem- upcoming online elections in technical action. ma. It can be resolved by allowing Ukraine. In particular, such am- multiple alternative identification bitious plans were voiced by channels: via digital signature on – the Vice a national ID-card, a digital signa- Prime Minister and Minister of ture issued by a state agency or a Digital Transformation. In a 2019 bank, or through offline identifi- interview with the Liga outlet, cation at an administrative service he announced that online vot- centre and subsequent online vot- ing would be piloted at the next ing there. local elections and full-scale on- Apparently, critics contend line voting at the next presiden- that e-voting raises cybersecurity tial elections. This innovation concerns. Ukraine’s government is positioned as part of a larger has been that target of multiple While with remote “state in smartphone” concept. cyberattacks from Russia. For in- stance, as reported by Radio Svo- e-voting the state Concerns and boda, during the 2014 presiden- cannot guarantee tial elections the Central Election solutions Committee web-site suffered from the right for a direct DDoS-attacks, was hacked, and Despite the high-spirited vi- its web-site displayed incorrect and secret ballot, sions by optimistic advocates election outcomes. To counter it can mitigate the of digitising the voting pro- this, Ukraine can adopt Estonia’s cess, its sceptics have voiced approach to preventing cyber- risks by granting a a number of critical remarks. threats, such as a highly-secure However, each major critique ID-card. E-voting can also be voter the possibility can be addressed by a respec- tested on smaller scale, such as of unlimited changes tive rejoinder. in by-elections to local councils First, ensuring a widespread or primaries for parliamentary of a ballot until the and trustworthy mechanism and presidential elections, while for verifying the identities of digitalisation can start from a end of election day voters participating in online lower stakes, less controversial, and by introducing elections is a significant chal- and more approachable stage lenge. The precise number of such as, for instance, during vote the backup option of certified digital signatures in counting. Ukraine is unknown, but it Furthermore, there is the di- offline voting after the should exceed 1 million, the lemma of ensuring a direct and se- online one. number of public officials cret ballot and striving to conduct obliged to submit e-asset dec- a remote i-voting. There are risks larations. In addition to certi- of buying votes and pressuris- fied digital signatures, there ing voters. While this also occurs 12 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 13 Moreover, according to a Razumkov Centre 2019 sur- vey, there is a strong dis- trust towards many politi- cal institutions in Ukraine. To ensure the legitimacy of e-voting, persuading the pub- lic that the e-elections were saving constituents’ time (due to vot- In the eurointegration performed properly is essen- ing remotely instead of going to a bal- dimension, the introduc- tial. Yet the call for enhanced lot station in person) and saving public tion of e-elections of pub- transparency contradicts the funds (due to reducing paper-relat- lic officials should contrib- legal requirement of securing ed expenses). It is worth noting that ute to further EU-Ukraine the confidentiality of a secret while exclusively digital voting would integration. In particular, ballot. One possible solution result in lower public expenditure, op- the EU-Ukraine Association is to publish an open code of erating a dual system of digital voting Agenda contains the short- e-voting software. However, alongside analogue, in-person voting term priority of the improve- this does not prevent individ- will actually increase public expenses ment and harmonisation of ual abuse. Another possible, and election committees’ workload. all electoral legislation. There- though elaborate, solution is Despite these concerns, given its fore, more transparent elections developing an e-voting system convenience, e-voting is important as should enhance this strand. using blockchain technolo- a potential inclusion enabler. Specif- gy. Its advantages include the ically, this might benefit Ukrainian cryptographic protection of in- citizens travelling and working formation distributed among a abroad. Although, given the Esto- network of peers. In Ukraine, nian experience, as analysed by there was an unfinished exper- e-voting scholars Kristjan Vassil, iment of applying blockchain Mihkel Solvak, Priit Vinkel, Alexan- technology for e-voting within der Trechsel, and Michael Alvarez, The publication of vot- the E-Vox project. Furthermore, such inclusion effects will neces- it is possible to apply the Prêt ing results by each sarily require time. The Estonian à Voter technology, which en- experience shows that this might ables an automatic instant cal- ballot station online, require several election cycles. culation of election results while E-voting may potentially have a combined with allowing any voter to check an positive influence on political pro- individual vote while also pro- enhanced cyber-secu- cesses. By providing instant and reli- tecting the secrecy of his or her able results, and by publishing open vote. In 2017, this high-tech rity, may reduce the code, e-voting may possibly increase solution was tested by the NGO electoral transparency. The publica- risk of voter abuse. “Electronic Democracy” for tion of voting results by each ballot e-elections at a university. Both station online, combined with en- blockchain and the Prêt à Vot- hanced cyber-security, may reduce er technologies ensure that no the risk of voter abuse. Considered single party is able to control, together, this can strengthen elec- delete, or modify all data and toral legitimacy and increase pub- thereby distort voting results. lic trust towards elections. Beyond using e-voting for elect- ANNOTATIONS ing public officials, the technology Advantages and can be applied for routine policy perspectives making. Thus, (non-)binding e-vot- The views and opinions ex- ing for local and national policies, pressed are those of the author Even if it is technically possible e-referenda, and liquid democra- and do not necessarily represent to expand e-voting to e-elections cy designs (optional delegating or the views and opinions of the Eu- for public offices, why embark on casting a vote) can increase the ropean University Institute (EUI) such an undertaking? quality of good governance and or the School of Transnational A wider application of e-voting, make it more democratic. Governance. including e-elections, assumes several practical benefits. The commonly posited arguments are GREEN ENERGY - INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

PHILIPP LECKEBUSCH IS CEO OF DTEK RENEWABLES, THE THE LARGEST RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCER IN UKRAINE. UKRAINE IS THE PHILIPP JOINED THE COMPANY IN APRIL 2018 AND SINCE THEN THE COMPANY’S FUTURE LEADER RES ASSETS HAVE INCREASED 5 TIMES, AND TODAY IT OPERATES 4 WIND AND 3 OF DECARBONI- SOLAR POWER PLANTS, WITH A TOTAL CAPACITY OF 1GW. PREVIOUSLY PHILIPP HAD SATIONUKRAINE IS THE OVER 30 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN MULTIPLE SENIOR IN EUROPE MANAGEMENT POSITIONS FUTURE LEADER WITH ABB, ALSTOM POWER, FERROSTAAL, AND MVV ENERGIE’S GROUP. HE WAS OF DECARBONI- RESPONSIBLE FOR PROJECT DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING, SATION AND THE OPERATION OF MULTIPLE FOSSIL FUEL PLANTS AND RENEWABLE IN EUROPE ENERGY PROJECTS.

14 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 15 have been working in the energy industry for almost my entire professional career. I had the opportunity to work in almost all major regions of the world and, from the beginning, I was excited to get the opportunity to come over and GREEN Iwork in Ukraine. When I was approached for the first time to ENERGY - join the management team and to support them in the development of the renewable business, I obviously had analysed the country and the INVESTMENT opportunities lying ahead for the company. It became clear very fast that this was a unique boom of investments that hap- OPPORTUNITIES chance, because I could not only contribute to pened last year, whereby the RES the company development, but also to the im- capacities were doubled. The plementation of the country’s new energy poli- addition was 4 GW and today cy, which I totally support. we have more than 6 GW of in- The Energy Strategy of Ukraine clearly termittent renewable solar and puts the transition to renewables as one of wind capacity in the market. the highest priorities, and it is a good sign Already in early 2018, the gov- that all major actors in this field support ernment realized that the renew- this strategy, whereas our company, as a ma- able energy law had finally prov- jor traditional player in the market, clearly en its effectiveness in attracting assumed the position of role model. That investments into the sector. The convinced me to join the company. government also realised that Ukraine has formidable potential when they had to start transitioning to it comes to renewable energy production a competitive scheme like those – equivalent to roughly 70 million tons of which already have existed for oil per year – and it is already one of the several years in other European fastest growing renewable energy markets countries. The government has in Europe. The country rose by 55 positions initiated a revision of the law and placed 8th in the attractiveness rating and the auction scheme comes of emerging markets in terms of invest- into force in 2020. The govern- ment in renewable energy, according to ment has made the necessary the Climatescope 2019 annual report, pre- provisions to establish a mature pared by Bloomberg New Energy Finance market system whereby a mar- research agency. ket-based mechanism will deter- The Ukrainian government established mine the price of energy. Now is the first law for the promotion of renew- the time when the government, able energy sources back in 2009. The in- together with the market and centives that the government provided investment community, must with the new law seemed to be rather high reach an agreement as to how when you look at the level of tariffs. Nev- the transition from the guaran- ertheless, it took 10 years following the teed feed-in tariff driven system passing of the law for Ukraine to achieve to the auction system will be an installed capacity of 2.1 GW, which it managed. did at the end of 2018. The key task is to decide on a So, in the first phase it’s clear that workable solution that suits all there was a very cautious approach by key stakeholders and provides a the investment community inside and stable framework for the proj- outside of the country to start to invest ects that have already finished in the renewable energy sector. It took a their development or are even al- lot of time until a large number of mar- ready under construction under ket actors developed the necessary confi- the old framework. Investors re- dence to start investing in the renewable quire security for this transition energy in the country. period in order to complete proj- The confidence finally clearly rooted ects started under the initially into the market by the end of 2017 and guaranteed framework. this very much contributed to the huge Insights

We are proud about our achievement We have a long-term co- to build almost 800 megawatts of new operation with our partners RES capacities within just 18 months. and together we have devel- This would not have been possible oped the expertise to execute without an extremely strong manage- such projects with our local ment and the execution team, which well-educated workforce, as mainly drew its resources out from the well as an experienced project existing DTEK organization. We had management for such large the big advantage to build on our in- and complex projects. We can ternal expertise, which very quickly rely today on very strong and developed from project to project. very experienced local con- The Nikopolska Solar Power plant tractors. 200АС/240DC was built in 2018 under We have also developed a an EPC contract (Engineering, Pro- network of highly reputable curement, Construction) where the equipment suppliers like Ves- contractor carries out the detailed en- tas and GE for wind turbine gineering design of the project, pro- equipment, ABB and Siemens cures all necessary equipment and for electric equipment, and materials, and delivers a functioning Chinese suppliers for the main facility or asset to the clients. components of solar plants The Pokrovska Solar Power plant like Trina, Seraphim, Risen 240АС/ 323DC was commissioned in and K-Star. 2019 and DTEK Renewables took over Ukraine offers every oppor- the role of EPC contractor itself, as tunity for RES development no international EPC contractor was – favourable wind and solar ready to deliver the project within the resources, the availability of tight schedule requested. The project large and easily accessible was executed well ahead of schedule land plots, and comparatively and with substantial budget savings. low site development costs. This is proof of the high skillset of The country strives to be a de- the people and their motivation to carbonisation leader in East- acquire new knowledge in a short pe- ern Europe and one of the riod of time. major players in the European International commercial banks, Green Deal. together with export-credit agencies, financed a large part of our projects, and the other part was derived from the successful placement of the first Ukrainian green bonds. This place- ment is a remarkable achievement, the first of its kind for Ukraine, a B credit listed country, as well as for Eastern Europe and the rest of the world. It shows that the inter- national investment community is ready to invest in renewable en- ergy in Ukraine but also believe us to be a company which can realise such projects at the required quality standards and in the shortest time possible.

16 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 17 THE FERTILE SOIL THE FER- OF UKRAINE: TILE SOIL OF NURTURING UKRAINE: INNOVATION NURTURING INNOVATION ANNA GUBANOVA - FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, VLERICK BUSINESS SCHOOL, BRUSSELS.

he flag of Ukraine lion USD in the country in 2019 is blue and yellow, representing the and the amount is expected to most common view reach $8.4 billion in 2025. Since of the countryside 2013, Ukraine’s IT sector has – yellow wheat and grown fiftyfold – from 0.06 per- blueT sky. That does not come as a cent of GDP to 3.3 percent. The surprise, since, according to a fa- contribution of the industry to mous Ukrainian economist Lidia the country’s GDP will increase Hryniv, 56.6 percent of all land accordingly from 3.34 percent to in Ukraine is used as arable land. 4,65 percent. So how is Ukraine In addition, Ukraine possesses a making waves in the tech entre- quarter of the world’s chornozem, preneurship world? one of the soils with the highest To grow the economy, the na- natural fertility. However, it is not ture of government spending only wheat and grain that results should accommodate the trends from the fertile ground of the in free market supply and de- country. Innovation flourishes in mand. What products and ser- the favourable environment of ac- vices will be most in demand in celerating economic growth and the nearest future? What indus- the modernisation-friendly polit- try will drive economic growth, ical climate in Ukraine. Accord- or, to be frank, which companies ing to IT Association, the size of will inject the most money into

INNOVATIONS INNOVATIONS REFORMS AND IT services export brought $5 bil- the economy? 18 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 19 The answer is simple. To choose where to allocate government resources, developing countries have the luxury of following the footsteps of developed econ- omies. Looking at the rank of Western enterprises by market capitalisation, tech companies lead the rankings as the biggest companies globally. According to the Financial Times, Apple alone is the size of the 30 biggest Ger- man companies combined. No wonder that the economy of Cal- ifornia, where the headquarters of FAANG tech giants (Facebook, a RE: Think Investment fo- Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) rum under the initiative are located, is the 5th largest President of Ukraine in Mar- economy in the world, surpassing iupol, Donetsk Region, in the UK, according to Tech Times. October 2019. In addition, in The obvious reason for this, as Some of the most January 2020 the government outlined by the UCLA Anderson launched the National Digital Review, is “California’s tech sec- famous existing Literacy Program in order to tor, which bolsters GDP faster combat digital inequality in than other industries, has been unicorn start-ups Ukraine. The efforts of the growing faster than the state’s founded in Ukraine government placed Ukraine other major industries.” in the top position on the Startus Magazine states that in include: Grammarly, EMEA list for potential invest- 2018, nearly $290 million was in- ment by the Institutional In- vested in Ukrainian start-ups. It the grammar-checking vestment survey in 2019. is obvious that there is a demand app; Petcube, a well- Overall, 2019 was marked by for innovation, so there should Ukraine making noise in the be a supply. Government, in turn known software world tech ecosystem. One of plays a crucial role by creating a the most resonating events of comfortable economic, legal, and for pets; Ring, tech the past year happened in De- political environment to acceler- security system; and cember, when the government ate the supply of the services pro- set up the Ukrainian Start-up vided by the tech industry. Only Readdle, a famous Fund (USF), with $17 million in the first two and a half months pledged to support local en- of existence, the new parliament file-converter trepreneurs, defining the pat- has adopted over 80 laws mostly applications chain. tern of start-up culture devel- aimed at improving the invest- opment in Ukraine in 2020. On ment climate in the country. The 25 January 2020 the USF held its has been first selection of start-ups that working on ensuring a fruitful en- competed for grants that took vironment for entrepreneurship place in Kyiv’s UNIT.City, the by passing reforms in the areas first Ukrainian innovation park. of finance, judiciary, education, Out of 900 applications submit- anti-corruption, and fiscal and ted, 12 start-ups were chosen currency laws, moving Ukraine as finalists. Some of the most to 71st ranking in WB 2019’s Ease famous existing unicorn start- of Doing Business ranking, an ups founded in Ukraine include: improvement of 81 places since Grammarly, the grammar-check- 2012. As a part of the proactive ing app; Petcube, a well-known fostering of foreign investment software for pets; Ring, tech se- and exposure of the country, es- curity system; and Readdle, a fa- pecially the Eastern regions, on mous file-converter applications the investors’ map, Ukraine held chain. According to UNCT- AD, Ukraine is ranked Apart from the Ukrainian among the top 20 invest- born and raised tech companies, ment-friendly countries more and more foreign enter- for foreign countries, and, prises choose Ukraine as its fer- as the report by PwC states, According to Forbes, tile ground. According to Forbes, Ukraine is among top 25 IT Ukraine’s IT specialists took part service exporters. As the Ukraine’s IT specialists in developing Ford’s in-car in- tech industry has devel- took part in developing fotainment systems, Reuters’ oped, Ukrainian firms have award-winning photography app, worked for multiple com- Ford’s in-car Nokia’s customer retail experi- panies with a range of ex- ence, and Deutsche Bank’s Risk periences. Ukraine is grow- infotainment systems, Management System. Ukraine’s ing to become a leading IT Reuters’ award-winning thriving tech industry attracts a industry player and main variety of global companies to outsourcing destination photography app, run their Research and Devel- globally because of its flour- opment centers in the country, ishing tech ecosystem, as Nokia’s customer retail reaching the count of over 110 well as cheap, highly-qual- experience, and centres. According to Outsourc- ified and English-speaking ing Journal, Ukraine is ranked labour. Ukrainian IT spe- Deutsche Bank’s Risk the first outsourcing market in cialists are among the most Eastern Europe. Some of the in-demand globally due to Management System. most famous companies to run their profound expertise, their R&D in Ukraine are Apple, especially in up-and-coming Samsung Electronics, Microsoft, specializations such as big Magento, NetCracker, IBM, Ari- data, artificial intelligence, cent, Siemens, Skype, Oracle, and blockchain, etc. Therefore, War Gaming. In January 2020, the there is no surprise that a tech journal AIN.ua announced number of globally renowned that Google, the U.S. tech giant, is tech giants are outsourcing launching its R&D center in Kyiv. to Ukrainian fertile ground According to UkraineInvest, Jap- in search of high-quality IT anese Rakuten, an e-commerce services. Maybe your com- and online retailing company that pany can be the next to ben- owns Viber, a messenger applica- efit from Ukraine’s nurturing tion, is planning to open an R&D innovation environment and centre in Kyiv and will expand its outstanding talent. office in Odesa. The reason be- hind such Ukraine’s popularity as a hub for innovation is its cheap and highly qualified labour. A re- port produced by Ukraine Digital News states that 402 Ukrainian higher educational institutions produce more than 35,000 tech specialists, over 80 percent of whom speak English. The range of hourly rate for Ukrainian soft- ware developers is $25-$50, which creates a perfect price-quality ra- tio of the IT services provided by the country.

20 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 21 THE RULESRULES ONON THETHE LABOUR LABOUR MARKET. WHATWHAT AREARE THE THE CHANCES FORFOR UPDATES?

INNA KRUPNIK IS A MARKETER AND ADVERTISING SPECIALIST. SHE HAS WORKED IN LARGE COMPANIES FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS AND HAS A HIGH PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION. SHE IS REGULARLY PUBLISHED IN LEADING UKRAINIAN PUBLICATIONS AS A COLUMNIST AND COLUMNIST ON TOPICS SUCH AS NATIONAL REVIVAL, REFORMS, CULTURAL PROCESSES, MICROECONOMIC PROCESSES IN UKRAINE, GENDER ISSUES. PARTICIPANT IN CONFERENCES, FORUMS, AND SEMINARS ON ECONOMIC REFORM AND POLITICAL PROCESSES. GRADUATED FROM TARAS SHEVCHENKO INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (NOW KNU), CANDIDATE OF SCIENCES (ECONOMICS). espite the long his- tory of Ukrainian parliamentarism Ukrainian trade unions, while and law-making preparing the draft, we have an- (let us recall at least other conflict draft law in Rada the Constitution of on a par with land reform. Of DPylyp Orlyk), one cannot call our course, from the prospective of legislative system an exemplary labour legislative changes, the one. Yet it has not been a complete degree of tension here is less failure either. Since 1991, over the than in the case of the land re- years of independence we have form, but we still have several managed to modernise a lot, in- levels of conflict. cluding in the areas of adoption The first level relates to social of laws and specialized codes. Ma- and labour relations, namely be- terial (Civil, Criminal, Economic, tween the state, employers, and Electoral) codes and procedural employees. The unions actively codes are the most concrete and oppose the government’s ver- effective, according to most law- sion but at the same time only yers and experts. The Code of Ad- give general remarks about the ministrative Offences (1984) and narrowing of the workers’ rights the Code of Labour Laws (Labour in a new draft or violation of the Code, 1971) are full of strict Sovi- rights of vulnerable groups (preg- et archaism and do not represent nant women, veterans, etc.). It is existing rules and regulations, but not surprising, since the draft La- they are a summary of not entire- A government bour Law does not stipulate any ly systematic amendments. The regulations governing the activity latter no longer withstands its document is not of trade unions, the principles of 95 previous editions, and there- currently intended which have not changed much fore, a moment has come for a since the Soviet era. Instead, the full systematic update of labour to be a regulator government, through the former legislation with the consent of all Minister of Economic Develop- political forces and in accordance of employment ment, Trade and Agriculture, with the conditions and rules of relationships as a Tymofii Mylovanov, proposed to a market economy, rather than a regulate trade unions’ activities planned economy. whole. Furthermore, with a new separate law and up- At the end of the last year, the dated rules that would allow the Honcharuk’s Government intro- it does not regulate unions to update themselves. duced a draft Labour Law No. the above-mentioned According to Mylovanov, the 2708, which was to replace not real driver of the union pro- only the Labour Code, but also the activity of trade test is the desire to retain the Laws “on Leave”, “on Remunera- property inherited from the tion” and other legislation. At the unions, nor does not USSR (such as health resorts same time the parliamentarism contain provisions on and recreation facilities), the would not be parliamentarism system of membership fees, at all, and Ukrainian parliamen- the functioning of the and corrupt schemes in the tarism in particular, if no alter- distribution of vouchers, rath- native proposals were submitted system of compulsory er than a real desire to protect along with the government draft state social insurance, ordinary workers. To under- No. 2708: the draft Labour Code stand the volume of the trade by , the draft by provisions on strikes unions’ desire, let’s recall the Natalia Korolevska, and another number of union members in formally alternative draft law by and lockouts, on Ukraine. There are about 9.7 Korolevska. certain issues of million union members, who Given the sensitivity of the all up make pay $10 million changes, the varied assessments the activity of trade in annual contributions, ex- among political forces, and the cluding offices and resorts fact that the Government did not unions. real estate. Quite a heavy involve any experts, including the baggage, isn’t it? 22 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 23 The next level of conflict be- tracts, dismissals, employment tween the old and the new relates record books, working hours, va- to the adequate replacement of cations, and labour disputes. the entire Labour Code. A gov- From now on a contract will ernment document is not cur- be a binding document that will rently intended to be a regulator regulate 99 percent of the em- of employment relationships as a ployer-employee relationship and whole. Furthermore, it does not working conditions. We will have regulate the above-mentioned ac- to discontinue the use of the oral ment contract, and fixed-term tivity of trade unions, nor does not form of the employment contract contract for specific tasks). The contain provisions on the func- (such as an application for ad- new contracts are an indefinite tioning of the system of compul- mission and an order for employ- employment contract (permanent sory state social insurance, provi- ment); instead, we will conclude position), a term contract (up to a sions on strikes and lockouts, on a paper or electronic genuine em- maximum of five years), a short- certain issues of the activity of ployment contract (with a digital term contract (up to two months), trade unions. This draft is only the signature). The employment con- a seasonal contract (for seasonal first step towards reforming of the tract can be amended the same work, but not longer than eight labour market, and other laws in way as any other contract. The consecutive months), a zero hour respect to the labour market must government also promises to de- contract (employee works only be adopted as soon as possible. velop templates of the contract when required by their employ- According to Yulia Drozhzhina and supplementary agreements er), an apprenticeship contract (to (a specialist of the analytics cen- (Part 1, 4, Art. 25, Part 5, Art. 28 combine study and work for up to ter hh.ua | grc) “the need to mod- of Draft No. 2708). Seven new six months), a domestic worker ernise labour legislation has been contracts will replace contract (when hiring people to on the agenda for a long time. three existing ones serve a family or a house: nannies, First, the current Labour Code of (term contract, cleaners, tutors etc.). The max- Ukraine, adopted in 1971, is out- indefinite imum term of a fixed-term em- dated and does not meet current employ- ployment contract is five years. An conditions. Second, in practice, entire army of recruiters will have job searchers are often encoun- to upgrade their skills, acquire ter the lack of transparency and/ new skills of contractual regula- or bureaucratisation of the mech- tion and the ability to stipulate all anisms of protection or updating the terms of an employment con- their social and economic rights tract. An employer will not have and interests. Therefore, the de- the right to expect the employee velopment of effective mecha- to perform work not stipulated in nisms for monitoring compliance the employment contract, nor to with the rules, revising penalties change working conditions and for non-adherence to the rules The employer should payment agreements. The state etc., are urgent. But the promul- be able to dismiss the will regulate labour relations at a gated draft of Labour Law, which minimum. The legislature retains has been long overdue, unfortu- employee at his own certain minimum statutory guar- nately did not meet all the expec- antees, for instance, the duration tations of the job searchers.” initiative. However, of annual leave, the amount of ex- To better understand the rea- 15 days’ notice (the tra pay for overtime or night shifts, sons of rejection by society or pos- working hours and rest time, as sible points of confrontation, minimum notice well as the terms of notice of ter- it’s worth reviewing the key mination of an employment con- innovations of labour leg- period to be given by tract, the amount of redundancy islation represented by an employer) appears pay in case of early termination of draft No. 2078. Most an employment contract initiated of the disputes to be insufficient to by an employer. regard such is- The most controversial provi- sues as em- find a new job. sions are related to dismissal of ployment the employee, including the dis- con- missal at the initiative of the em- ployer (Article 35). According to Yulia Drozhzhina, A survey of users of Work.ua, “[the] expansion of the grounds the number one jobseeker site in for termination of an employment that the redundancy pay pro- Ukraine, showed that a majority of contract at the initiative of the vided by the Labour Law will Ukrainians are not satisfied with employer” has been widely crit- be paid on the basis of the of- the draft Labour Code of Ukraine. icized. “In particular, the latter ficial part of the payments and This refers to both employers and will obtain the right at their own therefore will be reduced.” job seekers: 79 percent of em- initiative to terminate the employ- In their own defence, the ployers gave a negative response ment contract with the employee, authors of the government to the question “Are you satis- giving 15 to 90 days’ notice (de- draft Labour Law argue that an fied with the new Labour Code?”. pending on the total employment employer’s right to dismiss an And more than 90 percent of time of the employee for that em- employee whenever it wants respondent jobseekers were dis- ployer) or by paying an indemni- is mirrored by the right of the satisfied with it. To find out the ty in the amount specified by the employee to resign at any time. details, Work.ua asked respon- employment contract, but not less From citizens’ point of view, dents the following question: than the average daily wage of the such a provision is not the same “What exactly does not satisfy employee for each working day of because an employee must give you in the new Labour Code?”. two weeks’ notice to the em- Thirty-five percent of surveyed ployer, while the employer has jobseekers replied that they the right to dismiss an employ- were not happy with the whole ee with a shorter notice or no document. The main problem notice at all. In such a case, an with the new Labour Code is employee must get compensa- the reduced overtime pay (25 It turns out that the tion. Its amount is specified in percent). Eighteen percent are employee has to apply the employment contract, but it dissatisfied with the updated cannot be less than double the rules of dismissal and 14 per- to court to claim the average daily wage for each work- cent of jobseekers are not hap- ing day of the reduced notice pe- py with regulation of working indemnity payment riod. Besides, the employer has day length. Among employers, when resigning at his other grounds for dismissal, such the number of those who com- as unsuitability for the job, due pletely disagree with the inno- own initiative, and this to absence including temporary vations prevails – 39 percent disability, or due to the reinstate- of respondents. Twenty-two possibility is perceived ment of a former employee as well percent are dissatisfied with as breach of a contract more than the reduced overtime pay and extremely negatively in twice in half a year. At the same the dismissal process. Thus, our society. time the draft does not specify these numbers are similar to the number of breaches allowable the results of job seekers sur- for the employer, and the period vey. However, only 8 percent when such breaches can cause the of employers were dissatis- termination of the contract at the fied with the regulation of employee’s initiative. In addition, it working day length which is turns out that the employee has to almost two times less than apply to court to claim the indem- jobseekers. the reduced notice period. On the nity payment when resigning at his In order to decide which one hand, the employer should own initiative, and this possibility law is less manipulative and be able to dismiss the employee is perceived extremely negatively in leaves less room for fraud, at his own initiative. However, 15 our society. the authors of the gov- days’ notice (the minimum notice ernment draft document, period to be given by an employer) namely former Minister My- appears to be insufficient to find a lovanov, offer to compare new job. Furthermore, as per the the provisions of the draft last year’s study by hh.ua | grc, law and the Labour Code. only 57 percent of respondents claim that all the payments they receive are official. Others receive a salary, either partially or fully, “in an envelope”. And that means 24 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 25 Thus, the current Labour Code stipulates such a wide range of ery paragraph. However, most of dismissal grounds at the employ- the innovations are positive and er’s request – and any whim of the up-to-date. Among them are the owner or employer can be easily following. Basic working hours adjusted to at least one of them have not been changed – 40 hours (reorganisation was widely mis- per week (and 36 hours for young used as a mechanism for massive people aged between 16 and 18). redundancy without severance It is convenient that from now pay), with very limited redundan- on, an employer and an employee cy pay. The new draft, according to can agree on the duration of daily Mylovanov, allows employers and shifts, flexible schedules, and re- employees to be more consistent mote work. There may even be a in their relations and to consid- six-day working week. The basic er as a reason for dismissal only logic is that everyone is contract- those which are clearly stated in ed with as much employment as the employment contract without they are able to manage, and the additional manipulations. Anoth- overarching goal is that every- er well-known manipulative strat- thing be legal. According to the egy of unscrupulous employees Ministry of Social Policy, only 12.8 was to take long sick leave or va- million of the 28.5 million em- cations, as this legal loophole for ployment-aged and abled Ukrai- protection did not allow (or other- nians work legally, meaning that wise made it very difficult for) the only these workers’ labour rights employer to get rid of a dishonest are guaranteed. The draft law will employee. Under the draft law, increase legal employment, cre- this practice would be changed. ate more than 1 million jobs by At the same time, the government According to the 2024, and reduce job search time points out that all dismissed or from 3.6 to 2 months. The weak redundant employees will receive Ministry of Social point in the full regulation of the severance pay, and nothing will labour market may be the reluc- change in this regard. Although Policy, only 12.8 tance of Ukrainian freelancers trade unions are circulating a million of the 28.5 themselves to sign legal contracts different position, and it is en- and pay additional taxes. tirely in the spirit of the socialist million employment- The minimum annual paid guidelines, that the government leave period remains unchanged allegedly intends to allow employ- aged and abled – 24 calendar days; however, non- ers to dismiss employees when- Ukrainians work paid leave has increased from ever they want, albeit with sever- 15 to 30 calendar days per year. ance pay. In any case, the need to legally, meaning that Overtime and work on public conclude employment contracts, holidays, which is currently paid to anticipate the development of only these workers’ at double the ordinary rate, will events and the whole range of re- labour rights are only be paid at an increased rate, lations with the employer, and to at least 20 percent above ordinary treat this seriously will make our guaranteed. The draft pay, according to the draft law. citizens more educated in legal The same will be applied to night matters, and the labour market law will increase legal shifts and weekend work. Employ- will be more transparent and less employment, create ment records will be registered in socially engaged. Consequently, the State Register of Compulsory this will allow us to move towards more than 1 million State Social Insurance, but not in real labour relations, rather than the employment record books. relations aimed at optimising the jobs by 2024, and Pre-litigation regulation of la- taxation of civil contracts. reduce job search time bour disputes will be conducted Given the existing contradic- through a series of recommenda- tions, we are still far from a new from 3.6 to 2 months. tions and consultations with the unified law, and there are real help of so-called mediators in ne- debates in the parliament ahead gotiations between the employer and a battle-vote for almost ev- and the employee. A new category of protection unify with the European legisla- and punishment will be in- tion as for men’s involvement in troduced for psychological childcare). The current labour violence, for psychological law requires employers to allo- or economic pressure, ha- cate at least 4 percent of jobs to rassment, bullying, slander, people with disabilities. If they isolation, humiliation, the fail to do so, the employer must creation of unbearable work- pay a fine to the Social Security ing conditions, deliberate, Fund for People with Disabilities systematic and unjustified, in the amount of the average an- uneven distribution of tasks nual salary at the enterprise. The between employees, etc. Em- new draft law does not cover this ployees will have the right to issue. appeal to the court in the case If the role of the state in labour of discrimination or violation relations is to be completely elim- of their rights. inated, a question remains – how There are lots of debates to deal with state-guaranteed in respect of the protection payments, such as sick leave? of vulnerable groups’ labour According to the current Labour rights, including the rights of Code, sickness payments are pro- those with disabilities, preg- vided by the social protection sys- nant women, mothers, and an- tem. The draft law, however, does titerrorist operation soldiers. not give clear guidance on the na- Experts agree that rules will ture of such payments and source be implemented that would of funds. protect the special status of Active discussions on strikes these categories without being and lockouts are under way. The a heavy financial burden for old Labour Code stipulates strikes, the employer While analytics but in fact they were difficult to on vulnerable groups is being implement, and most often we goals of the strike) directly to the prepared by the Ministry of So- witnessed mass protests under employer. This issue has not been cial Policy, it should be recalled the banners of trade unions in regulated by law at all, so the Cab- that in Ukraine the source of front of the Cabinet of Ministers inet of Ministers’ Expert Group compensation is the employer. or the Verkhovna Rada, rather on the drafting of the Law on La- It is positive to retain a job, but than claiming (and achieving the bour plans to seek an assistance is it the only possible compro- from the International Labour mise? Maybe after a long ma - Organization (ILO) in the near- ternity leave, a woman should est future. In turn, employers are find a new job (using state em- asking to be allowed to use lock- ployment service resources) so outs in response to strikes, as an that not to overload a particular opportunity to close an enterprise employer. A similar situation is if the strikers’ conditions cannot with other vulnerable groups A step towards finding be met. Instruments of communi- (people with disabilities and an- compromises and cation between the parties to the titerrorist operation soldiers), conflict should be provided, en- for whom the employer retains a chance to review abling them to settle disputes in a their workplaces and continues civil manner without causing sig- paying a salary to their fami- the draft Labour Law nificant damage to the economy lies, and these matters require No. 2708 was its recall and the enterprise. compromises. Compromises to provide certain guarantees for by the Cabinet of employees with children; to con- sider transferring pregnant wom- Ministers on en and those with children under 4 March 2020. the age of three to easier jobs or restricting women’s night shifts and overtime work; and to keep the right to a maternity leave (to 26 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 27 In general, the Honcharuk gov- ernment had submitted this draft law taking into account all advan- tages the changes to the old labour legislation would bring to the econ- omy. But its submission, without consulting experts and unions, caused a significant scandal with its regard to innovative provisions for the highly socialised state of Ukraine. Nevertheless, it should be taken into account that Ukraine the De- is a country with a large number process. n y s of employees working for large en- Thus, the positive Shmyhal terprises, rather than in small or efforts of lawmakers to replaced the medium-sized businesses, where modernise Ukraine’s labour legis- government of Oleksii the right labour relations were in lation remain quite clear. We are Honcharuk. The head of the place regardless of the contract. It convinced that the main changes, parliamentary Committee on So- is clear that there will be a need which are vital to attracting invest- cial Policy and Protection of Vet- to reach compromises on major ments in the Ukrainian economy, erans' Rights, Halyna Tretiiakova, points such as: overtime work, are reflected in the draft, includ- also pointed out on her Facebook which will become the norm and ing the diversity of employment page that such media statements will be remunerated five times agreements, e-employment record were manipulative, having con- less than before; abolishing some books, remuneration issues, vaca- firmed the law’s requirement to social guarantees and reducing tions and leave arrangements, and recall drafts that were not adopt- the status of mothers with young intentions to overcome shadow ed in the first reading and stated children to facilitate their dismiss- employment, among others, will that amendments to labour law al; possible transfer of an employ- in any case be represented in the are inevitable. ee to another workplace without new government’s draft. Apart from the draft No. 2708 their consent; and the abolition of It should be mentioned that the “On Labour”, the draft No. 2571 trade unions. In any case this will ’s draft “On Amendments to Certain Leg- facilitate further labour market was considered by trade unions islative Acts of Ukraine on Cer- reform processes. as scandalous and unlawful, as tain Issues of the Banking System A step towards finding compro- well as restricting the rights of Functioning” has been recalled mises and a chance to review the workers. The Federation of Trade (this bill relates to the ban on re- draft Labour Law No. 2708 was Unions of Ukraine, supported by turning banks to former owners its recall by the Cabinet of Min- the statements of the Internation- if they got bankrupt). isters on 4 March 2020. This is ev- al Trade Union Confederation, During its first month of work, idenced by the information from opposed the adoption of the draft the new government has to de- the Verkhovna Rada’s website: the law "On Labour". In January 2020, termine the relevance of the re- section on the status of the doc- the Federation of Trade Unions called drafts and, if they are still ument shows that the draft was filed a lawsuit with the District relevant, send them back to the recalled on this date. Despite the Administrative Court of Kyiv on parliament. Perhaps, the recall of wave of disinformation in the me- the lawfulness of the provisions a necessary – but not entirely pre- dia that the draft was recalled as of the draft. The court has sched- pared – draft may present the being scandalous, harmful, or at uled a preliminary hearing in chance to revise it, to avoid the request of trade unions (the the case on 8 April inaccuracies and incon- government’s main opponent in 2020. sistencies, while co- this matter), the only reason for ordinating the the draft legislation’s withdrawal efforts of all was compliance with the law. Ac- partici- cording to the current legislation, pants all the drafts proposed by the pre- o f vious government that failed to pass are automatically recalled from the Verkhovna Rada. This is exactly what happened in Ukraine the day before: the government of At the same time, Verkhovna Rada Committee on Integration of Ukraine with the Europe- an Union, in its conclusion on draft law No. 2708, stated that the document “weakens the lev- el of labour protection, narrows the scope of labour rights and social guarantees of employees in comparison with the cur- rent national legislation, which contradicts the obligation of Verkhovna Rada Ukraine according to the Asso- ciation Agreement, and is not in Committee on conformity with EU law.” It was the position of the union activ- Integration of Ukraine ists that caused the most noise with the European around the draft. However, ex- perts are convinced that chang- Union, in its conclusion es to the labour law are inevita- on draft law ble. And they should meet the requirements of the time, rather No. 2708, stated than certain morally outdated views on “employer-employee” that the document relations. Thus, we will keep “weakens the level you informed about the further developments on the Ukrainian of labour protection, labour market. narrows the scope of labour rights and social guarantees of employees in comparison with the current national legislation, which contradicts the obligation of Ukraine according to the Association Agreement, and is not in conformity with EU law.”

28 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 29 UKRAINE UKRAINE VERSUS RUSSIA

KYIVKYIV ANDAND MOSCOW: MOSCOW: FROMFROM PARTNERSHIPPARTNERSHIP TOTO COMPETITIONCOMPETITION

ILYA TARASYUK IS A WELL-KNOWN UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST WHOSE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY LEADING UKRAINIAN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS. SPECIALIZES IN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL TOPICS. HE GRADUATED FROM THE KYIV- MOHYLA ACADEMY WITH A DEGREE IN PHILOLOGY. ince 2014, the Rus- sian propaganda machine has been spreading misinfor- mation throughout Ukraine has much to offer in the world about how the world market, and 2019 wit- SUkraine’s economy is about to nessed a serious increase in ag- collapse. However, time goes ricultural sales (44.3 percent). by and Ukraine is not falling In general, experts state that apart. Indeed, despite the war, Ukrainian agricultural products Meanwhile, even Ukraine is even developing, re- have improved significantly, and the most optimistic orienting its economy. most of them are exported to Chi- Nevertheless, some people be- na, Turkey, Egypt, India, and the forecasts do not lieve that the resumption of close EU (35 percent of the total). ties with Russia will be key to ac- The title of world breadbas- predict a boost celerating Ukraine's development ket is increasingly associated to the Russian – although, in reality, Russia’s so- with Ukraine. In 2019, Ukrainian cial model and stagnant economy farmers harvested a record crop economy. Over the means the country is increasingly of 75.2 million tons. declining in world rankings. In At the same time, our officials last eight years of addition, many Ukrainians under- address the issue of expanding Russian President stand that the story of “brother- bilateral cooperation with the hood” and “one nation” is just a tale, EU. Ukraine could supply much Vladimir Putin's rule, and that Ukraine and Russia are more to this market, but EU quo- competitors in the world market. tas currently prevent this from the local economy Despite the war in Donbas, the happening. has increased a dynamics of Ukraine’s key so- Allocated volumes are sold by cio-economic indicators in recent our manufacturers in just a month little more than 6 years have not been worse, but in- or two. For instance, in mid-Feb- deed sometimes even better than ruary 2020 Ukraine has almost ful- percent. Russian Russia’s. ly used 32 positions out of 42 quo- metallurgy and tas in the European Union. Ukraine changes According to Taras Kachka, mechanical Deputy Minister of Economic its partners Development, Trade and Agri- engineering culture, in 2019 the volume of experience export In 2019, Ukraine finally es- agricultural export to the EU in- caped from its economic depen- creased by 22 percent, amounting problems due to dence on Russia. Earlier, Russia to $19.2 billion. accounted for more than a third Meanwhile, even the most op- sanctions, and of Ukraine's foreign commerce, timistic forecasts do not predict Russian energy but last year China took first place a boost to the Russian economy. (according to the State Statistics Over the last eight years of Rus- exporters suffer Committee, in January-Novem- sian President Vladimir Putin's ber 2019, China accounted for rule, the local economy has in- from great losses 7.2 percent of Ukrainian exports creased a little more than 6 per- because of the and 15.1 percent of imports). So cent. Russian metallurgy and me- far, Russia is ranked second, but chanical engineering experience abnormally warm Ukraine’s economic gap with its export problems due to sanctions, northern neighbour is increasing. and Russian energy exporters suf- winter, the novel At the same time, the share of the fer from great losses because of coronavirus European Union (EU), which ac- the abnormally warm winter, the counted for 41.5 percent of total novel coronavirus outbreak, and outbreak, and Ukrainian goods exports and 41.1 competition. Only Russia’s agri- percent of imports, is greatly in- cultural sector managed to im- competition. creasing. prove its position during the year. And in this sphere Ukraine is the main competitor. 30 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 31

The digital future is here President, these directions have a In the last year, Ukraine signifi- negative impact on nature – “birds cantly improved its position in the die from windmills and worms get Thus, Ukraine has to further IT sphere. According to Global Fi- out of the ground”. He compared develop relations (including bi- nance, Ukraine was ranked 44th a bet on alternative energy sourc- lateral) with the EU, the US, and in the list of the 67 most techno- es with a desire to dress in leath- China, which are the largest logically advanced countries, out- er and settle in a cave. Europe markets in the world. In addi- pacing Russia by two positions. laughed at these statements and tion, this cooperation will stim- Meanwhile, Russia continues to continued to build capacity. ulate economic development in exploit the technological accom- It must also be mentioned Ukraine along a new direction, plishments of the , that in recent years Ukraine has rather than reproducing archa- with a focus on the defence sector. started cooperation with the US ic, “Soviet” economic models. However, Russian-made weapons company Westinghouse, which are not in demand on the global produces fuel elements for nu- market. Turkey and Indonesia re- clear power plants. In 2018, the cently refused to buy Russian-made Ukrainian state-owned enterprise Su-57 and Su-35C fighter jets. fully loaded the Yu- zhnoukrainsk Nuclear Power Sta- Jump off the tion unit with fuel from the Unit- ed States for the first time. Russia energy needle has made every effort to disrupt these agreements by consistently One of the main challenges of spreading “horror stories” about the Ukrainian authorities since possible accidents at Ukrainian Russia continues 1991 is the implementation of a nuclear power plants, but every- strategy of energy independence thing is still working successfully to exploit the from Russia. without any accidents. technological The European experience is en- couraging, demonstrating that the “Get away from accomplishments economy can develop effectively with minimal gas and oil con- Moscow!” of the Soviet Union, sumption. However, developing with a focus on renewable energy is necessary. The Russian authorities are The year 2019 has proven that well aware that they depend on the defence sector. the trend of renewable energy re- the energy market, whereas the source development has reached economy of the country remains However, Russian- Ukraine. According to the State export-oriented to raw materi- made weapons Agency for Energy Efficiency and als. Instead, Russia tries to keep Energy Saving, over the past year Ukraine's economy in the orbit of are not in demand investors have put around €3.7 its influence. on the global billion into the construction of At the same time, Russian ex- solar, wind, and bioelectric power perts state that the economic market. Turkey and plants in Ukraine, tripling the ca- crisis in the country will start pacity of alternative power plants. this year, and one of the main Indonesia recently To keep Europe on its gas-oil reasons for the future difficul- refused to buy needle, Russia is trying to stem the ties is state policy , coronavirus global trend towards alternative pandemic, and recession of the Russian-made Su-57 energy resources. In anticipation world economics. and Su-35C fighter of the financial losses, even Vladi- mir Putin has criticized renewable jets. energy at the Second Global Man- ufacturing and Industrialisation Summit. According to the Russian NAFTOGAZ AGAINST GAZPROM NAFTOGAZ AGAINST GAZPROM

ILYA TARASYUK IS A WELL-KNOWN UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST WHOSE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY LEADING UKRAINIAN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS. SPECIALIZES IN ECO- NOMIC AND POLITICAL TOPICS. HE GRADUATED FROM THE KYIV-MOHYLA ACADEMY WITH A DEGREE IN PHILOLOGY.

32 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 33 problematic. Gazprom was It is too early to talk playing for time in every about gas peace between possible way, while Russia was putting pressure on Ukraine and Russia Ukraine, threatening to ter- minate the supply and tran- gas transmission system in 2020, gainst the backdrop of sit contracts. At the same and a minimum of 40 billion cu- specific relations be- time, Naftogaz emphasised bic meters during 2021-2024, sub- tween Moscow and Kyiv the possibility of forced re- ject to a competitive tariff. In addi- – which are far-from- covery of the funds and sig- tion, the Russian side has agreed perfect - the gas issue nificant reputational losses to pay Naftogaz more than $2.9 bil- has remained one of to Gazprom. And though in lion according to the Stockholm Russia’s main trumps since 1991. Ac- theory the failure to comply Arbitration decisions (money A was transferred on 27 December cording to experts, Ukraine has already with the arbitration decision experienced three large-scale gas wars, was subject to penalties, in 2019). Gazprom also dropped its and the confrontation is ongoing. The practice, the Russians were $80 billion fine claim against the events of 2014, despite being a seri- in no hurry to pay. After- Ukrainian company, which they ous tragedy, have given Ukrainians a wards, Naftogaz again filed a demanded under the terms of the lesson on how to fight a very power- lawsuit to Stockholm Arbitra- 2009 contract which stipulated the ful enemy, on the economic front in tion against Russian monop- principle “buy or pay”. particular. At that time, Russia tried olists. The Ukrainian compa- In turn, Naftogaz agreed to to weaken Ukraine by raising the ny demanded a review of gas withdraw its $12.25 billion lawsuit gas price, but Ukraine managed to transit tariffs and to obtain against Gazprom and dropped its promptly reorient to European hubs. reimbursements from Russia claims against the Russian compa- Yes, it still was Russian gas, but it was in the amount of $12.5 billion. ny for the $7.4 billion fine issued bought in Europe. Our country had against Gazprom by the Antimo- to overpay, but this enabled us not to nopoly Committee of Ukraine. make concessions to the aggressor. After the agreement was signed, Having bounced back, Ukraine even A bird in the hand each party declared its victory in managed to take the offensive and de- the case. Naftogaz explained that fend its position in the courts. of Naftogaz “the continuation of the Russian gas transit through the Ukrainian In the second half of 2019, natural gas transmission system Ukraine’s Russia’s Gazprom started to will guarantee the receipt of $7.2 Stockholm euphoria put pressure on Ukraine, yet billion now, and not a hypothetical again promising to suspend $12 billion in a year or even in 3-7 gas supplies from 1 January years.” According to the Minister The 2014 litigation between Naf- 2020 unless a new transit agree- of Energy and Environment Olek- togaz and Gazprom involved mutual ment was put in place by then. sii Orzhel, Ukraine could count on claims amounting to about $125 bil- The previous supply agreement potentially winning in arbitration lion, which threatened to bankrupt was due to expire on 31 Decem- disputes against Gazprom only in both companies. On 22 December ber 2019. Repeated attempts of three to five years, while during 2017, Naftogaz declared that it had bilateral contacts and trilater- this time the domestic transmis- won arbitration against Gazprom al meetings of Russia, Ukraine sion system would stand idle. in the gas supply case and had and the European Commission Instead, Ukraine has received achieved a reduction of mandatory on gas transit yielded no results. nearly $3 billion and the prospect annual volumes in the future. In After all, on 30 December 2019, of getting the same amount each February 2018, the Arbitration In- after several days of intense ne- year for the transit of Russian gas. stitute of the Stockholm Chamber gotiations and months of prepa- On the whole, a new agreement of Commerce (Stockholm Arbitra- ration, Ukraine’s Naftogaz and with Russia allows Ukraine to re- tion Institute) obliged Gazprom Russia’s Gazprom signed a new tain the status of a reliable transit to make an additional payment of gas transit contract for a period partner. Meanwhile, in Russia the more than $4.6 billion for under- of 5 years and the mutual claims payment to Naftogaz by the deci- supplying transit gas following the settlement. sion of the Stockholm Arbitration Naftogaz claim. According to the contractual Institute was called a drop in the However, the implementation terms, the contract can be re- bucket compared to the claims of the international arbitrators’ newed on similar terms for anoth- and potential risks. According to decisions appeared to be quite er 10 years. Gazprom committed then Russian Vice-Prime Minister to pump 65 billion cubic meters of Dmitrii Kozak “the amounts could gas through the Ukrainian natural have been much higher.” The battle is won - but new ones are First of all, it relates to a claim to the European antitrust author- ahead ity on Gazprom’s abuse of its mo- nopoly position; an International Despite the first steps Court of Arbitration claim in Zu- towards an understanding rich under a new transit contract with the Russian gas mo- and a claim to the Stockholm nopolist, Naftogaz still has Arbitration Institute under the a lot of work ahead. First of agreement between Naftogaz and all, it still has proceedings on Gazprom on the assignment of foot in relation to the matter debt obligations of Rosukrener- of the energy assets expro- go. As for the global gas market, priation during annexation it has undergone major changes of the Crimea by Russia. The in recent years. In particular, new arbitration proceedings were powerful players, US companies, initiated in October 2016 and emerged in Europe which sell liq- were reviewed by the tribunal uefied natural gas. of the Hague Permanent Court The Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline of Arbitration. In February construction has stopped due to 2019, a decision was made in imposed sanctions, and the Rus- Naftogaz’s favour. According sians have to pump gas through

to the judgement, the tribu- the Ukrainian gas transmission CONTRO VERSY nal established its jurisdiction system. Recent experience has over the case and ruled that shown that life without direct Russia had illegally expropriat- contracts is not “the end of the ed the assets of the Ukrainian world”; it is important not to pan- company in the Crimea. ic and not to be intimidated. For The second stage of the arbi- this reason, Ukrainian companies tration proceedings will deter- that have finally realised that big Russia does not mine the amount of Naftogaz’s business sharks and aggressive damages. In February this year, neighbours can and must be con- deny the illegal the company specified the fronted should actively protect expropriation of amount of its losses and claims national interests. All problemat- to recover as being $8 billion. ic issues should, however, be re- Naftogaz’s and its This includes the value of the solved without litigation that last lost assets and the interest ac- for years. subsidiaries’ assets crued on this amount since 2014. Russia does not deny the ille- in the Crimea, gal expropriation of Naftogaz’s but claims that and its subsidiaries’ assets in the Crimea, but claims that no no compensation compensation to be paid. The final decision on the amount to be paid. The of compensation is expected by mid-2021. final decision on Meanwhile, Naftogaz chief ex- the amount of ecutive Yurii Vitrenko said the company is considering submit- compensation is ting new claims to the EU anti- trust authorities and a number of expected by mid- international arbitrations. 2021.

34 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 35 - SHEREMET’S CASE: ASHEREMET’S DEMAND FOR CASE: TRUTHA DEMAND AGAINST FOR ATRUTH POLITICAL AGAINST ORDER A POLITICAL ORDER

everal months have passed since the res- CONTRO VERSY onance briefing held on 12 December 2019 at the Ministry of In- terior of Ukraine, attendedS by the ministry’s leader- ship, the heads of the National Po- lice, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and President Volodymyr Zelensky himself. In such an unusual manner, an announcement was made about a breakthrough in a high-profile case that seemed to have reached a dead- lock. The announcement reported the arrest of the “alleged executors” of the attempted murder of Pavlo Sheremet, a LEONID SHVETS IS A WELL-KNOWN journalist who died on 20 July 2016 in a car crash in downtown Kyiv. POLITICAL OBSERVER AND PUBLICIST Three and a half years have passed since Sheremet’s death, and despite all IN UKRAINE, THE HEADLINER OF the authorities’ promises to “take person- THE MOST FAMOUS ECONOMIC al control” of the case, there had been no result. The crime itself is quite exceptional. AND POLITICAL PUBLICATIONS Unofficially, it was believed that the well- known Belarusian journalist, who worked in IN UKRAINE. HE REGULARLY Moscow and later moved to Kyiv, was killed PARTICIPATES IN TELEVISION AND by the Russian special services in an act of re- venge. Sheremet was killed in a car belonging RADIO BROADCASTS, TALK SHOWS to Aliona Prytula, the head of the Ukrainian Pravda website. In recent years, Sheremet and AS A POLITICAL EXPERT. Prytula had been living in a civil marriage. HE GRADUATED FROM V.N. KARAZIN The December briefing at the Ministry of In- terior became a real information explosion. Nu- KHARKIV STATE UNIVERSITY (NOW merous pieces of evidence allegedly confirming KHNU), HISTORIAN, CANDIDATE OF the involvement of volunteers, servicemen and veterans in Sheremet’s murder were shown to the POLITICAL SCIENCE. public and the president. Yulia Kuzmenko, a paediatric car- diac surgeon and volunteer, Yana Dugar, a military doctor from the 25th Airborne Brigade, and An- drij Antonenko, a musician and sergeant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine were arrested. Vladyslav and Inna Gryshchenko, who were earlier detained in another case related to an assassination at- tempt on an entrepreneur, were also believed to be involved. The Gryshchenkos also participated in military activities in the east, and Vladyslav is a military expert on explosive devices. Another sus- pect is veteran Ivan Vakulenko, who committed suicide after he was summonsed to testify in the Sheremet case. The political circumstances of the Ministry of Interior’s high-pro- file public relations campaign also called into question the success of the National Police investiga- tors. has been in charge of the ministry since Feb- ruary 2014 and was included in the existence of an organization The creation 's government aimed at “destabilizing the coun- subject to one condition: being try by killing a well-known per- of an Interim the only representative of the old son”. They also asserted that there political elite in the new team, he was much more evidence which Investigation had to prove his effectiveness, and could not be disclosed so as not to his probation, given by the pres- impede the investigation. Lately Commission ident, lasted until the new year. at court hearings the prosecution At the same time, Volodymyr Zel- seemed extremely unconvincing. could serve as ensky himself finished the year Among the most obvious con- on a positive note, demonstrat- tradictions is a video recording a guarantee ing better results than the pre- the persons who planted the vious government. The interests explosive device under Prytu- that the of the president and the head of la-Sheremet’s car. According to investigation the Ministry of Interior coincid- investigators, these were Yana ed, and this prompted Zelensky Dugar and Andrij Antonenko. into the to take the dubious step to take However, the difference in height the dubious step of participating between Antonenko and the man murder in the police’s presentation of de- on the record is approximately ten velopments in the Sheremet case. centimetres. Furthermore, Dugar of Pavlo Thus, the president supported passed a polygraph test which in- the accusation with his personal dicated her non-involvement. A Sheremet presence, which, of course, is ab- woman who took photos of cam- solutely unacceptable both legal- eras near Sheremet and Prytula’s does not ly and ethically. residence during the preparation Now two months later, the irrel- for the assassination bears little turn into an evance of the president’s actions is resemblance to Yulia Kuzmen- becoming even more apparent. At ko. British expert Ivan Birch’s in- intentionally the briefing, the heads of the Na- volvement in the identification of ordered tional Police and Ministry of Inte- suspects based on the specifics of rior repeatedly stated that the ev- their movements resulted in more process. idence released was only a small questions than answers and vio- part of the testimony suggesting lated procedural requirements. 36 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 37 The resonant case is still confusing. Recently, the Ministry It cannot be excluded that the real facts of Interior has suggest- and perpetrators are mixed with those ed that the Security Ser- artificially implicated in the investiga- vice of Ukraine (SSU) was tion because of mutual acquaintances somehow involved in the and online data of their telephone con- attempt on Sheremet. In versations. These records do not contain the beginning of Febru- direct evidence of the suspects’ involve- ary, a former spokeswoman ment in the crime. Although recordings for the Dnipro-1 regiment refer to the idea of “encouraging” Kyiv, and the Donbas battalion, by launching Grad missiles at the cap- Vasylisa Mazurchuk, pub- ital, or imitating the beating of a well- lished her correspondence known public figure as if it were by the with Ministry of Interior police, it may well be that the desire of spokesman Artem Shevchen- senior management to provide a fast ko, where Shevchenko calls and politically beneficial result played Pavlo Sheremet a Russian backfired on the investigation. agent and shares his opinion Asked directly by an Interfax-Ukraine that the case participants be- correspondent whether the president came victims of SSU counter- regrets visiting the presentation of the intelligence operations: “the first results on the Sheremet investiga- operative investigator screwed tion, Volodymyr Zelensky replied that it up” and “dragged the guys into he had no regrets: “I was very glad that the wetwork.” Deputy Minister we moved such a serious case forward. of Interior Anton Gerashchenko If this is not true, if the court decides expressly states the close con- that the charge is not substantiated nection of suspects with the SSU. enough and there is insufficient evi- It is probable that Avakov prom- dence, then all the officers who dealt ised Zelensky such a scandalous with the case will at least apologise. conclusion of the investigation. In They could apologise if it was just a any case, this investigation is now mistake, and if there are any other impossible to forget. special issues, then an apology is not The creation of an Interim In- sufficient. By the way, if there was vestigation Commission could the same case for Gandziuk, I would serve as a guarantee that the in- also come. Because it’s important vestigation into the murder of Pav- for me. We promised to end all these lo Sheremet does not turn into an cases, to learn who are the perpetra- intentionally ordered process. The tors and the murderers. So, we have corresponding draft resolution is to do it.” registered in the Verkhovna Rada. Of course, the president cannot Once already, an Interim Investiga- fully admit his mistake, because tion Commission into the assassi- if he did, immediate personnel nation of Kateryna Gandziuk suc- changes would need to be made. ceeded in creating the necessary Arsen Avakov’s position heavily pressure on law enforcement and depends on the outcome of the the authorities, which did not allow Sheremet case, as it was the minis- them to stop the investigation. The ter’s promise to convincingly pros- recent detentions of Igor Pavlovskyi ecute the case, and it was he who and Oleksii Levin (Moskalenko) in- invited Zelensky to the briefing. If dicate significant progress. We want the case fails, an apology will not to believe that Sheremet’s case, being be enough, especially since each under public and parliamentary con- court session is accompanied by trol, will reveal the truth, rather than the active participation and atten- merely thrusting the power struggles tion of the press, which immedi- of Ukrainian agencies into the public ately airs in public all the contra- spotlight. dictions and inconclusive theses of the accusation. THE FUTURE OF SPITZENKANDIDATEN SYSTEMTHE FUTURE OF SPITZENKANDIDATEN SYSTEM

ppointment of the European Com- mission President – the end of the Spitzenkandidat PROCESSES PROCESSES EU Aprocess? Ukraine’s aspirations to be- come a member of the EU raise Ukrainian citizens’ interest in studying and understanding the decision-making process in Brus- Mr. Martin Schulz, former EP sels. The appointment of the Euro- President in a 2014 speech, the EC pean Commission (EC) President President has to be a person that is one such process. citizens of Europe already know. The most relevant debate over The aim of this “experiment”, as such appointment has been per- proposed by the EC, was to solve haps in relation to the “Spitzenk- the issue of democratic deficit andidaten” (or “lead candidate”) and enable the citizens to be – at process. This system goes back least indirectly – more involved in at least 20 years, but it came into the selection of the crucial post of application in the 2014 European President of the EC, the executive Parliament (EP) elections, only to institution of the EU. be ignored during the 2019 EP elec- In 2012, the EP adopted a Reso- tions. The process entails that the lution, followed by a Recommen- various European political parties dation and a Communication of the ROMAN NEKOLIAK put forward lead candidates in ad- EC in 2013, that “urge[d] the Euro- vance of the EP elections, so that pean political [groups]” to choose a - PH.D., LLM, GHENT the EU citizens could take them candidate among them that would UNIVERSITY, into account when voting in the be suitable for the position of Com- EP elections, and the lead candi- mission President. For the elec- BELGIUM. date of the winning party would tions in 2014, five political groups at be proposed as EC President by the EU level nominated their “lead the European Council. As put by candidates”. 38 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 39

A month before the elections, The Spitzenkandidaten pro- result of the EP elections on the campaigns were launched by the cess has been rather controver- appointment of the EC President nominees across the EU in order sial. It has both strong support- represents a democratic prog- to inform the European citizens ers and critics. The EP, in line ress within the EU. The system, if about who they were as well as with the EC under President successfully implemented, could their agenda and priorities. The Junker’s leadership, strongly indeed turn political awareness European People´s Party (EPP) promoted the Spitzenkandidaten from the national level to the Eu- emerged as the biggest group in procedure as the standard proce- ropean level, by making the link the EP and its nominee, Jean- dure to appoint the EC President between national political parties, Claud Juncker, was then proposed after the ‘success’ of the 2014 which tend to focus on national by the European Council and suc- EP election. In order to support issues and still remain dominant cessfully appointed as Commis- the new system, the EP adopted at the EP elections, and European sion President, a position he hold a Decision by overall majority, political groups more visible. As until 2019 elections which ulti- which warned that the EP would a consequence, citizens would be mately led to the appointment of be prepared to reject any candi- more informed of how their votes with Ursula von der Leyen as the date for the role of EC President for national political parties at the first woman to head the EC. not selected as ‘Spitzenkandidat’ domestic elections could influ- It is important to note that this by political groups of the EP pri- ence the direction of the EU for process, which took place in 2014, or to the EP elections. the next term. This would ener- does not entirely reflect the re- According to the EP, the Spit- gise citizens to participate in the quirements enshrined in the Trea- zenkandidaten system is a log- election process. In fact, a positive ties governing the EU. According ical consequence of the Lisbon correlation between the citizens to Article 17(7) Treaty on Europe- Treaty, which stipulates the Euro- who recognised the lead candi- an Union (TEU) the heads of states pean Council’s obligation, when dates and likelihood to vote and and governments of the Member appointing an EC President can- certain influence of the electoral States seating in the European didate, to take into consideration campaigns based on the Spitzenk- Council have to decide (behind the results of the EP elections, andidaten in the turn-out of such closed doors) acting by qualified thus including EU citizens’ choice citizens were recognised at the majority on a can- of their preferred lead candidates 2014 European elections. put forward by each Euro- The official turnout of the 2019 pean politi- EP elections according to EP offi- cial press release was 50.66 per- di- cent (up 8.06 percentage points date for pres- when compared to 2014), the high- ident of the Commission. After cal est turnout since the 1994 EP elec- this step, their proposal goes to group. Justifi- tions, with a large increase among the EP, where there is a vote and cation for the procedure lies in young people. the appointee is either elected or the assumption that the Spitzenk- rejected. Furthermore, according andidaten system is based on the to the Declaration on Article 17(6) direct representation of citizens at and 17(7) of the TEU, “the Euro- the EP, as comparable to a ‘parlia- pean Parliament and European mentary’ system, rather than on Сouncil are jointly responsible” for their indirect representation at choosing an appropriate person the European Council. This brings for the position, but they have to the Commission one step closer to do so “taking account of the elec- the citizens and legitimises it. tions to the European Parliament”. The EP further emphasises that However, that article did not spec- this process enhances political ify the exact “method or proce- awareness among European citi- dure” through which the candidate zens and deepens the democrat- should be selected; such a gap al- ic legitimacy of both the EP and lowed the EU institutions to take a the EC. As the EP claims, based different route than the one set out on a 2014 survey, approximately in the Treaties – the Spitzenkandi- 63 percent of EU citizens agreed dat procedure described above. that the direct reflection of the On the other hand, criticisms designed to be ‘completely independent’ to and concerns have been raised represent the general interest of the EU. against the Spitzenkandidaten sys- The Commission’s independence is a part tem since its introduction. First, of its legitimacy, with the Commission the system is far from accepted by standing apart from the Council and the the European Council itself and EP. Appointing a head of the Commission national leaders. Clearly, the Eu- based on electoral politics could politicise ropean Council as the appointer the role of the President (and the Com- of the Commission President does mission as a whole) which could be more not intend to easily concede to the prone to be influenced by certain political EP interpretation of the Treaties, groups. Alberto Alemanno, a prominent as such rights cannot be simply EU law scholar, described the first Spit- ‘grabbed’ beyond the original in- zenkandidat Commission as “the most tention of the Treaties. political” Commission. Through politi- Second, critics say that the sys- cisation, the Spitzenkandidaten proce- tem did not really improve demo- dure could jeopardise the legitimacy of cratic legitimacy. Some research- the Commission as a neutral guardian ers, based on their analysis of the of the Treaties, rather than increase its 2014 EP elections, maintain that legitimacy. the Spitzenkandidaten neither In conclusion, the Spitzenkandidat- improved the turnout of the Eu- en system that was introduced in 2014 ropean elections nor, in reality, has a number of advantages and disad- fostered pan-European politics as vantages. It is still too early to make a a mainstream issue of the Euro- definitive judgment as to whether the pean elections among citizens by system has succeeded and whether connecting national parties and it will become an established proce- European political groups further. dure. The negotiations following the For example, most of national par- 2019 elections were a real challenge ties, dominating the EP elections, for the survival of the system, given featured their Spitzenkandidat the oppositions of national political in a very low-key manner during leaders in the Council. While none their election campaigns with of the lead candidates – Frans Tim- few exceptions of national parties mermans, Margrethe Vestager and with which the lead candidates Manfred Weber – were able to win were closely affiliated. The link MPs’ support, the Council rejected between national parties and Eu- candidates shortlisted by the Parlia- ropean political groups was not ef- mentary groups. This, technically fectively presented to the citizens. speaking, does not violate the TEU, A negative ‘polarization’ effect was but it breaks the lead candidate sys- pean politics. Meanwhile, also pointed out. Whilst those who tem achieved through years of dis- the debate will no doubt correctly identified the lead candi- cussion. For now, von der Leyen’s continue as to whether the dates see the introduction of Spit- victory means the abandoning the system improves democrat- zenkandidaten as a progress of Spitzenkandidat process. ic legitimacy or politicises democracy at the European level, By being neither a former head the Commission and upset those who viewed European inte- of state or government, nor a repre- the institutional balance gration negatively regarded it even sentative of the party winning the with negative consequences. more negatively when they learnt most seats in Parliament, she gets that such a system had been in- a weak mandate which will make troduced. Therefore, contrary to it difficult to run Commission for the intention of the EP, the devel- the five-year term. opment of Spitzenkandidaten did The next EP election is sched- not – at least not yet – effectively uled in 2024. After the elections, contribute to mainstreaming Eu- one of the first tasks of the EP is ropean politics at the elections. to elect a new EC. This event will Third, the EC was created as a give a substantial answer on the ‘guardian’ of the EU treaties, along future of the Spitzenkandidaten with the Court of Justice, and was process in the labyrinth of Euro- 40 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 41

LAKE SYNEVYR: THE LAKEEYE SYNEVYR: OF THE THE SEA EYE IN THEOF THE CARPATHIAN SEA IN THE CARPATHIANMOUNTAINS MOUNTAINS

ILYA TARASYUK IS A WELL-KNOWN UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST WHOSE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY LEADING UKRAINIAN BUSI- NESS PUBLICATIONS FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS. SPECIALIZES IN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL TOPICS. HE GRADUATED FROM THE KYIV-MOHYLA ACADEMY WITH A DEGREE IN PHILOLOGY. CULTURAL CULTURAL PAGES ake Synevyr, being the largest and the deepest mountain lake in Ukraine, is considered to be a true natural pearl Land a distinguishing feature of the death rock became a small the Zakarpattia region. island in the middle of the lake which was named after those lov- The area of its stream pool is ers – Synevyr. about 5 hectares, and at its deepest People also call the lake the it is 19.5 metres in depth. The lake “Eye of the Sea” because of its blue water is very clear and its average water and an island in the middle, temperature ranges between 10- which resembles a pupil. A 13-me- 19 degrees Celsius, is warm only tre-long sculptural composition, to a depth of 1-2 metres. There titled “Syn’ and Vyr” and made of are three types of trout in the lake mahogany, is based on the most (brown trout, rainbow trout and famous legend and was erected lake trout), however fishing and on the lake shore. Locals tell the Almost everyone swimming is prohibited. Only staggering number of other leg- drifting on a raft is permitted. ends and stories about the origin who visits the The water level in the lake of the lake and describe various changes throughout the year. Syn- events that occurred on its shores. shores of Synevyr evyr is at its largest and fullest This mysticism, together with the in spring when the snow melts. lake’s picturesque nature, attracts speaks to feeling Spruce trees of 140-160 years of thousands of tourists. Almost ev- age stand along the lake shores. eryone who visits the shores of a wonderful Scientists believe there was an Synevyr speaks to feeling a won- earthquake in this area 10,000 derful emotional uplift, an expe- emotional uplift, years ago, which caused a major rience of mental clarity and close landslide. The rocks blocked the contact with the environment. All an experience valley stream. Over time, the re- this creates a wonderful atmo- of mental sulting depression was filled by sphere, inspiring and spreading the water of several mountain positive vibes. And the legend- clarity and close streams, forming a magnificently ary love story attracts newlyweds beautiful lake. from all over Ukraine to hold their contact with the Divers also confirm this theory wedding ceremonies in this place. as they have explored the bottom Lake Synevyr is considered to nature. of the lake and found there the be the main treasure of the Syn- remains of fossilized trees still evyr National Park. This charm- standing upright. However, na- ing wildlife spot incarnates all the tional folklore tells a completely beauty of the Carpathian Moun- different story of the lake’s origin. tains: mineral springs, spruce According to the most common and beech forests. Thirty-eight legend, there once lived a count species of unique plants growing who had a beautiful daughter around the lake and 20 species of named Syn’. One day, walking in animals living in this area are list- the outskirts of the mansion, the ed in the Red Book. girl met a shepherd named Vyr The rehabilitation centre of who was from a neighbouring vil- brown bears has operated in the lage. They fell in love and began park since 2011. Animals that to date secretly. When the count have experienced animal cruelty learned about his daughter’s rela- or were in captivity without ap- tionship with the commoner, he propriate conditions are brought ordered his servants to kill Vyr. here. Tourists can also visit the They tracked him down and killed only forest museum in Europe, lo- the shepherd with a huge rock. cated not far from Synevyr. Syn’ cried her heart out and her tears turned into a large lake, and 42 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 43

In this museum you can learn about ancient loggers’ tools, mod- els of knots, facilities and details of all technological process of preparation, sorting, storage and transportation of wood on rafts named “bokor”. Nowadays, tour- ist infrastructure is being active- Interesting facts: ly built around Synevyr, and the nationwide festival “Trembitas are calling to Synevyr” is held an- • The Ramsar nually on the lake’s shores (“trem- bita” is an alpine horn made of Convention defined wood, common among Ukrainian highlanders). lake Synevyr as wetlands of international importance. Contact: • In 2011, the Ukrainian postal • the lake is located in the Inner Gorgany mountain range near the Synevyrska Poliana village of the Mizhhirskyi service Ukrposhta district of the Zakarpattia region at an altitude of 989 metres above sea level; released a series • the lake’s coordinates are 48°37′01″N 23°41′01″E; • the lake’s website is www.npp-synevyr.net.ua of stamps “Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine”, one of which depicts Synevyr; • Locals believe that everyone who falls in love by the lake will have a love that lasts forever. UKRAINIAN IS À LAUKRAINIAN MODE! IS À LA MODE

NATALIA TOLUB IS A JOURNALIST WITH TWENTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, SPECIALIZING IN TOPICS SUCH AS ECONOMICS, REAL ESTATE, INSURANCE, À LA MODE TOURISM, AND FASHION. SHE WORKED IN LEADING POSITIONS IN LEADING EDITIONS OF UKRAINE. NOMINEE UKRAINIAN IS FOR JOURNALIST AWARDS. IN THE UKRAINIAN IS PAST, HE HAS BEEN PR DIRECTOR OF À LA MODE INTERNATIONAL AND UKRAINIAN À LA MODE! COMPANIES WITH A FOCUS ON FORMULATING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES. AN IMPORTANT PART OF À LA MODE NATALIA'S LIFE IS HER VOLUNTEER WORK. IN 2104, SHE ORGANIZED A À LA MODE CHARITY AUCTION TO HELP OUR ARMY ON FACEBOOK, THE PROCEEDS OF À LA MODE WHICH WERE DONATED DIRECTLY TO VERIFIED VOLUNTEERS. THANKS TO THIS PROJECT, MORE THAN $ 40,000 WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE UKRAINIAN ARMY. SHE GRADUATED FROM THE FACULTY OF JOURNALISM AT TARAS SHEVCHENKO NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF KYIV.

44 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 45 xquisite embroidery, colourful drawn thread works, and original eth- nic accessories are abun- named Vita Kin’s embroidered dant on the catwalks and dresses the most popular fashion week shows. This summer dresses of the year. Eis not the first year Ukrainian design- The world’s top glossy maga- ers have competed with well-known zines hold photoshoots with techniques. All embroidered names in the fashion world and influ- these dresses and they have shirts are made using an ancient enced European fashion. The national been sold by major global re- technique of sewing clothes and Ukrainian embroidered shirt, called tailers. Moreover, the whole decorating them, named pukh- the vyshyvanka, has become the dis- stock of embroidered dresses lyk. Newlyweds are frequent cus- tinguishing mark of Ukrainian fash- was sold out on fashion web- tomers of this brand. ion designers. Our national colouring sites within half an hour. Yulia Mahdich from Lviv cre- inspires renowned fashion gurus. In Fashion designer Anton ates fashion sold in 35 countries particular, Jean-Paul Gaultier dedi- Belinskyi is another famous around the world and in partic- cated a whole collection to Ukrainian Ukrainian. His collections are ular in the United States, most embroidery and the fashion house well known at the London and European countries, and even in Valentino interpreted the Ukrainian Paris fashion weeks. Belinskyi Japan. The designer herself says pattern in its cruise collection “Resort studies Ukrainian cultural tradi- she is most proud of the wedding 2017”. World famous stars including tions and street fashion, and his dress collection she designed for Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Salma works have been published in the Princess of Kuwait. Hayek, and others also love our em- Vogue Italy, Vogue UK, Glamour Her embroidered shirts are broidered shirts. UK, POP Magazine, Nowfashion. designed using the ornaments Ukrainian designers confidently com, and Style.com. of Kievan Rus and the images of create fashion in various countries Anton Belinskyi creates the Slavic gods. The embroidery across the world using nation- ready-to-wear avant-garde wom- technique dates from the 9th and al ethnic elements. For instance, en's clothing with Ukrainian el- 10th centuries. Vita Kin is the creator of famous ements which highlight your in- The Victoria Gres brand com- embroidered dresses and the first dividuality. bines fashion trends and differ- Ukrainian designer whose clothes Ukrainian brand Sleeping ent historical periods. Victoria have worn by the most influential Gypsy has showrooms in Kyiv Gres creates collections using an- global celebrities. Dita von Teese, and New York and clients in tique lace, embroidery, and other Florence Welch, Demi Moore, and Tokyo and Dubai. The brand elements of decor in combina- fashion insiders buy Vita Kin’s em- produces modern dresses and tion with modern fabrics. Victo- broidered dresses. No wonder that blouses with embroidery active- ria Gres created the costumes for last year the Wall Street Journal ly using traditional Ukrainian Janet Jackson’s world tour. Designer Oksana Mukha dec- orates clothes with Ukrainian Nowadays Ukrainian designers elements. Fashion houses dis- are assertively promoting their playing her wedding and evening culture not only in Europe but dresses can be found over the throughout the world. The mod- world: in France, Australia, Cze- ern Ukrainian embroidered shirt chia, Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, vyshyvanka has become an inte- Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, China, gral part of the wardrobes of Hol- Russia, and Belarus. Charles de lywood celebrities and politicians Gaulle’s granddaughter chose one alike. Ukrainian is à la mode! of Oskana Mukha’s dresses for her wedding ceremony. Ukrainian is à la mode!

Dita von Teese, Florence Welch, Demi Moore, and fashion insiders buy Vita Kin’s embroidered dresses. No wonder that last year the Wall Street Journal named Vita Kin’s embroidered dresses the most popular summer dresses of the year.

46 • Brussels Ukraïna Review • www.promoteukraine.org • • www.promoteukraine.org • Promote Ukraine • Промуй Україну • 47

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