10/21/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Constitutional Court sees no reason not to consider the law on lustration

The Constitutional Court sees no reason not to consider the law on lustration

10.21.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The Constitutional Court sees no reason not to consider the law on lustration.
• According to the rating of Credit Suisse, Ukraine has become the poorest country in Europe.
• Fashion Week ended in Kyiv.

Key Events in Ukraine

• The Constitutional Court judges, eight of which are eligible for lustration, see no reason not to hear the case on the lawfulness of the law on lustration.
• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk proposed to establish the post of the Minister for Antiterrorist Operation without creating a ministry.
• The Cabinet approved a bill to combat Internet piracy, which permits to remove or block information on web servers before trial. The bill will be shortl registered in the Verkhovna Rada.
• The Government adopted a resolution to open to the public more than 300 public registers and databases that will be made available at a special government portal.
• The Ministry of Justice and of Finance plans to impose disciplinary liability on the Head of the State Fiscal Service for failure to comply with the law on lustration.
• Ukrzaliznytsya officially became a public company with 100% owned by the state, without the right of alienation.
• Transition period for the gradual abolition of Soviet standards still valid in Ukraine will begin in 2016.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate has continued its sharp decline by 1-3% daily for the third trading session in a row: 22.60 ₴ $ (+0.61 UAH), 25.67 ₴/€ (+0.66 UAH), 3.61 ₴/10 ₽ (+0.07 UAH).

Kyiv

• Elections in the capital will be guarded by 5,00 Interior Ministry employees, 3 armored units and 7 riot police squads.

Ukraine at War

• According to the Anti-Terrorist Operation Headquarters, no violations of the ceasefire were registered in the conflict area Donbas. One soldier was wounded during mine clearance near Maryinka. Ukrainian army started withdrawing equipment from the Mariupol district. According to intelligence reports, the militants left the heavy artillery and self-propelled guns in many front sectors, and conduct reconnaissance and sabotage activities in the near-front zone.`
• President Poroshenko believes there is no need for a new wave of mobilization. He said that the US will supply artillery radars to the Ukrainian Army in November.

Ukraine and the World

• Ukraine and Moldova intend to restore rail traffic to Odessa bypassing Transnistria.
• Russia imposed an embargo on the exports of diesel fuel and liquefied natural gas to Ukraine. Prices at gas filling stations are growing rapidly.
• Мeeting of the Presidents of Syria and Russia took place in Moscow.
• 13 people were killed as a result of bombing by the Russian aviation of the field hospital of the opposition to the regime of Syrian President Assad.
• German Chancellor Merkel said there would be no political solution to the conflict in Syria in the near future. She called on Russia not to use cluster bombs, causing serious casualties amoung civilians.
• Qatar that supports the rebels does not rule out the participation of its armed forces in the war in Syria, but prefers a peaceful solution to the conflict.
• US Department of State said it did not intend to cooperate with Russia on Syria.
• NATO said that this year Russia would hold over 4,000 military exercises, which is 10 times more than number of NATO excercises.

Trends

• Market experts say that currency exchange rate in exchange offices exceeds the official rate by the average of 1.5 UAH, explaining it by hryvnia issue by the National Bank to replenish the Deposit Guarantee Fund. At the same time, official banks, unlike exchange offices, do not sell foreign currency, which indicates the growth of the black market for foreign currency.
• Ukrainian exports in the past nine months dropped by more than a third due to the war in Donbas, the breach of relations with Russia, which was a traditional importer of many industrial and agricultural products, as well as the unfavorable situation in the world markets and the risks of resumed hostilities.
  Entering the European market requires modernization and conformity with the EU standards. Businesses, in the absence of bank lending, state support for the promotion of Ukrainian brands and under tax and regulatory pressure, are often not capable of launching or expanding exports.