Page 6 - bne_Magazine_July_2018

6 I The Month That Was bne July 2018
Politics
Eastern Europe
The IMF wants the Rada to restore a key requirement that all appeals of big corruption cases go to the new High Anti-Corruption Court, Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, wrote in a press statement. No IMF compliant ACC, no IMF or EU money, and no market access.
London’s Commercial Court ordered Gazprom to freeze all its assets in the UK and to provide Naftogaz with a list of assets worth more than $50,000, Ukraine’s state energy company reports. Naftogaz also instructed 17 banks
that deal with Gazprom in Britain that they are not to help Russia’s state gas company reduce its assets there.
Ukraine's parliament. the Verkhovna Rada, sacked the well regarded Oleksandr Danylyuk from the post of the nation's Finance Minister following his bitter conflict with the Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
Russia continued its "pivot to the East" signing billions of dollars' worth of investment deals with China and preparing for a massive trade deal at
the June 9-10 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Qingdao, China, which poignantly took place at the same time as the controversial G7 summit in Canada.
The G7 leaders said they would
step up sanctions against Russia
if required, according to the final communiqué adopted at the end of the two-day G7 summit. "We reiterate our condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea and reaffirm our enduring support for Ukrainian sovereignty,” the G7 leaders said.
Central Europe
Poland’s labour shortage spurred a top construction firm to call on the government for help. Poland should
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reform its visa system to let in more workers from countries like Ukraine or Georgia in order to tackle severe labour shortages in the construction industry, the CEO of Poland’s biggest construction company, Budimex, told Reuters.
The European Commission will
fine the Czech Republic CZK7.5bn (€292mn) for failing to observe regulations in distributing EU subsidies to the agriculture sector, in yet another example of the problematic drawing of EU funds in the country.
Estonia agreed to buy a Mistral short- range air defence system in a €50mn deal. The Baltic state will buy Mistral surface-to-air missiles in a deal that also includes training missiles, simulators, testing and maintenance equipment.
Southeast Europe
Movement of migrants through
the Western Balkans intensified
in 2018 and peaked in May, a report from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Migrants from the Middle East and North Africa are increasingly using the new route from Greece via Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina to EU member Croatia.
Drivers in Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia blocked roads in protest against high fuel prices. The protests caused chaos in the rush hours in several cities, as well as temporarily paralysing major highways.
Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov threatened to resign as an ongoing row with his cabinet colleague, Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova, deepened. The row started when Simeonov accused Angelkova of protecting bars and restaurants built on the south beach of the popular Sunny Beach resort that he says were built illegally and should be torn down.
Eurasia
Nike declined to provide boots to players of Iran’s national football team for the World Cup in Russia citing US sanctions relating to Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal. The US-based sportswear company now faces a boycott in Iran.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced plans to jumpstart con- struction of a nuclear power plant at the end of 2018 in partnership with Russia. Russia’s Rosatom says the Central Asian nation’s Navoi Region would be the most suitable place for a nuclear power plant.
Armenia’s Minister of Labour
and Social Affairs stepped down
after a disagreement on pension reforms with Prime Minister Nikol Pashninian. Mane Tandilyan wanted
the introduction of a mandatory funded pension system for private sector employees to be delayed until July 2019.
Mongolia established an intergovern- mental organisation to promote coop- eration among landlocked developing countries. The organisation is aimed at “strengthening the collective voice” of the landlocked states.
The banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan said more than 100 of
its members have been arrested since the start of 2017. It accused the Tajik authorities of conducting a “new wave of arrests and retaliation”.