Page 56 - BNE_magazine_12_2019 dec19

56 I Eastern Europe bne December 2019
Ukraine president pledges to hold a referendum on farmland sales for foreigners
bne IntelliNews
The Ukrainian authorities will allow farmland sales to foreign citizens and companies only if the Ukrainian people give consent to it at a referendum, the nation's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on November 11.
"Foreigners and companies in which there are foreigners among the founders will be entitled to buy Ukrainian lands, Ukrainian land plots only if the consent of the people of Ukraine is given at an all-Ukrainian referendum. The corresponding clause will be contained in the law [on the opening of the agricultural land market]," news agwncy Interfax quoted Zelenskiy as saying.
Zelenskiy added that in the near future the nation's parliamemnt, the Verkhovna Rada would develop and adopt a law that "clearly establishes the types and mechanisms of the referendum, and finally gives Ukrainians the right to decide the fate of one or another issue very important for them".
In October, Zelenskiy said that a seven- year moratorium on farm land purchase by foreigners should be introduced when launching the nation's land market.
"For a while, we should sell land only to Ukrainians." Zelenskiy said. "Only
to them. "In September, the Ukrainian government submitted a bill on the turnover of farmland to the nation's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The document provides for the abolition of the ban on sale of farmland of all forms of ownership from October 1, 2020.
In September, the Ukrainian government submitted a bill on the turnover of farmland to the Verkhovna Rada. The
www.bne.eu
document provides for the abolition of the ban on sale of farmland of all forms of ownership from October 1, 2020.
At the same time, the Ukrainian government is going to impose serious restrictions on sales of the nation's farmland after the cancellation of
the farmland trade moratorium.
According to the bill, the Ukrainian authorities are going to limit trade to Ukrainian citizens and legal entities
registered in Ukraine; to restrict land ownership by one entity to no more than 15% of farmland in a particular region/oblast and no more than 0.5% of total farmland in Ukraine. Current tenants will have a preferred right to purchase their rented farmland.
In early September, newly elected Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk pledged to liberalise the nation's land market in Ukraine by the middle of next year.
“For a while, we should sell land only to Ukrainians." Zelenskiy said”