The day when nothing happened

UKRAINE - In Brief 20 Dec 2019 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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In fact, a lot has happened yesterday, on Dec 19, on Ukrainian matters. Verkhovna Rada approved amendments to the Election Code killing first-past-the-post (fptp) electoral system which is believed to be malfunctioning in Ukrainian reality. Also yesterday Minister of Energy Oleksiy Orzhel informed that Ukraine has reached some deal on gas transit with Russia. No details are available so far. The day was fruitful on these story lines. Still it did not bring any answer to the key questions: in what direction we move with Privatbank and when we might expect new deal with the IMF. On December 19, the Court of Appeal put on pause trial on legitimacy of Privatbank nationalization till January 31, 2020 when the Supreme Court will consider another case on Privatbank. Judges of the Court of Appeal want to have some extra hint from judges of the Supreme Court what to do with this complicated story. Ukraine has common law system but judges very often want to learn from other cases to draw their own conclusion. Against this backdrop the delay was perceived as a positive signal: judges are hesitant to play in Kolomoyskiy games. The Supreme Court might cancel the decision of the Court of Appeal and judges just want to make sure they will deliver the safest solution (for them). Another ‘nothing happened’ story is related to agro-land market. Verkhovna Rada planned to consider draft law on land circulation in second reading on December 19. However, fierce protests near the parliament and escalation from several political forces made the ruling party to step down for this time. President Zelenskiy even proposed to cut the cap for maximum land plot in one hands, down to 10 thnd ha from ...