President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had signed bill No. 2194, which provides for the transfer of farmland to the ownership of territorial communities and gives them the opportunity to dispose of the land at their own discretion.
The Ukrainian leader called this document the "land constitution" of the country.
“This is a law that takes away from a cabinet official the function of formalizing the right to land, which he has never even seen in his life.
It finally returns to the communities the right to manage their lands.
The law, which clearly stipulates that only Ukrainians can buy and sell land, ”Zelensky said at the Ukraine 30. Land forum.
As the Ukrainian leader expects, the entry into force of Law No. 2194 will ensure the right of citizens to conclude transactions with land and will deal a crushing blow to the shadow market.
According to Zelensky, about 5 million hectares of state farmland have been illegally appropriated in Ukraine.
“During the moratorium, some businessmen and politicians stole land from the state, which is equal to the area of almost two Crimean peninsulas ... People could not (legally. -
RT
) dispose of the land, they could not buy and sell or bequeath it, as is done in many countries of the world.
There was a moratorium for Ukrainians, like in Venezuela or North Korea, ”Zelensky said.
In April 2020, the President of Ukraine approved a law on the phased abolition of the moratorium on the sale and purchase of land.
The first part of this document will come into effect on July 1, 2021.
It will allow the citizens of Ukraine to purchase farmland with an area of up to 100 hectares.
With the consent of the owner, land transactions will be carried out through electronic auctions.
The bill №2195 is intended to regulate their implementation, which was finally approved by the Verkhovna Rada in mid-May.
According to the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko, auctions for the purchase and sale of land will be "transparent".
According to him, every citizen of Ukraine "from anywhere in the world" will be able to take part in them.
"From the Center to the Places"
The nominal goal of Law 2194 is to increase the economic freedom of village, township and city councils.
It is assumed that the local authorities will receive ownership of just over 2 million hectares of land.
Deals with farmland, according to Zelenskiy, will become one of the sources of money inflow to “local budgets”.
At the same time, it will be temporarily prohibited to sell plots of land in communal ownership.
“We are returning lands to people.
From the center to the places.
This is logical and fair.
It is important that the law prohibits the sale of communally owned lands, ”Zelensky said earlier.
Ukrainian farmers
Reuters
© Gleb Garanich
As explained on the website of the office of the President of Ukraine, according to Law No. 2194, "local governments are empowered to change the purpose of private land plots and approve detailed plans of the territory outside of settlements."
Also, the "land constitution" provides for the abolition of paper workflow and introduces the principles of "one touch" and "tacit consent" when checking by government agencies documentation on land management and land assessment for compliance with regulatory legal acts.
As noted by the Ukrainian media, these measures are aimed at simplifying the procedure for registering land transactions and eliminating state expertise of land management documentation.
Discussion of the bill on the transfer of land to the ownership of territorial communities caused heated disputes in the Verkhovna Rada.
In total, about 3 thousand amendments were proposed by factions and deputies of the Ukrainian parliament.
According to the publication "STRANA.ua", a number of dubious points are sewn into the "land constitution" of Ukraine.
For example, the law signed by Zelensky puts into free circulation the lands of the forest fund, areas near water bodies and territories under the management of the administrations of reserves.
In addition, the right to priority purchase of land, including agricultural land, was given to companies that have special licenses for mining.
At the same time, the "land constitution" does not specify whether the holders of such permits must have Ukrainian citizenship.
This amendment was introduced by the chairman of the committee on agrarian and land policy of the Verkhovna Rada, Nikolai Solsky.
According to the law №2194, the tenants of the Ukrainian lands received wider rights.
Now, with a number of exceptions, without the consent of the owner, they can dispose of land, registering it as a pledge and transferring it for use to other persons and organizations.
Along with this, the "land constitution" does not establish serious obstacles to the removal and removal of the topsoil.
The owner and tenant can easily dispose of the rich Ukrainian chernozems, including selling them abroad, STRANA.ua notes.
"Anti-constitutional mechanism"
The “Opposition Platform - For Life” (Opposition Platform) is categorically against the law №2194.
The faction argues that the document creates an "anti-constitutional mechanism" that allows, without the consent of the authorities, to independently change the purpose of land plots.
The HLE are convinced that Law No. 2194 does not provide farmers with the opportunity to continue working on the farmland they currently occupy.
According to the co-chairman of the party Yuri Boyko, the document is aimed at meeting the interests of "international financial corporations".
Commenting on the signing by Zelensky of the law on the transfer of land to territorial communities, MP from the OLSZ Natalia Korolevskaya said that the document was pushed through by the Servant of the People in order to transfer the next tranche from the International Monetary Fund.
She is confident that Law No. 2194 contains a loophole that “allows foreigners to buy our black soil”.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the text of Law No. 2194
© president.gov.ua
“Today, a law has been signed that gives local authorities the authority to change the purpose of private land plots and to approve plans for a detailed planning of the territory outside the settlements.
That is, they act in a systematic manner to deprive people of land and sell everything to the last hundred square meters, ”the press service of the HLP quotes Korolevskaya as saying.
Political scientist and economist Oleksandr Dudchak believes that Law No. 2194 and other initiatives related to the formation of the land market are aimed at meeting the needs of two influential forces - Western states and agricultural holdings in Ukraine.
According to the expert, small owners will not have enough funds to rent or buy out the plots they are working on.
“Ukrainian chernozems are practically the only valuable resource that the country has left.
The struggle for this asset has now unfolded between local agricultural holdings and representatives of transnational capital.
Small owners, that is, ordinary farmers, are not able to withstand such competition and, apparently, as the land reform develops, they will go bankrupt, ”says Dudchak.
An RT source in the office of the President of Ukraine said that Zelensky's team expects to implement a scheme for selling black soil, in which farmland will first be under the control of large Ukrainian owners.
The topsoil or the land itself will then be sold to foreigners at a higher cost.
“Ukrainian agricultural holdings are interested in opening a land market.
They strive to quickly and cheaper to buy everything, and when foreigners come, sell them, but at a much higher price, ”says the interlocutor of RT.
An RT source in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine said that at the current stage, the country's legislation is being reformed to a greater extent in the interests of agricultural holdings.
According to his forecast, with the entry into force of Law No. 2194, the lands (at least temporarily) will come under the control of "big business".
“Local authorities have long been loyal to agricultural holdings operating in their regions.
The land will be received by them for almost nothing.
This document (Law No. 2194. -
RT
) is aimed at supporting the national big business, ”said a representative of the Cabinet.
Oleg Nemensky, a leading researcher at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, looks at the situation with the agricultural land market in Ukraine somewhat differently.
In an interview with RT, he suggested that the "land constitution" and other unpopular laws on the turnover of farmland are the only way for Kiev to ensure payments on debts to international creditors.
“The point is not only in oligarchic groups, which are naturally interested in the privatization of land.
Ukraine is forced to look for the simplest possible ways to attract money to the economy due to its extremely difficult debt situation.
The creation of a land market will allow us to patch financial holes in the short term, ”Nemensky said.
However, according to the expert, the positive effect of lifting the moratorium on the sale and purchase of Ukrainian land will be limited.
Moreover, as the analyst expects, the land reform will result in deep social upheavals in the Ukrainian countryside and small towns, living off agriculture.
The "Land Constitution" and other similar laws are designed not to shock the society too much, stretching out into stages the inevitable privatization of land and the transfer of a significant part of it into the hands of foreigners who are interested in the exploitation of Ukrainian black soil. Loopholes in all these laws allow foreign capital to become a participant in the land market in the near future, ”concluded Nemensky.