During its year of OSCE chairmanship, Ukraine chose for its mission to combat trafficking. The country has a lot to do, since it grabbed international headlines in 2012 with illegal tissue trade scandals.
Also, President Viktor Yanukovych said on Dec. 13 that Ukraine during its chairmanship will “offer our vision of a European security system.”
Apart from the heavy hangover from too many holidays, January is expected to bring at least three things.
Firstly, expect severe cash shortages. The Finance Ministry’s current account balance stood at a paltry Hr 6 billion as of mid-December.
Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund are due to restart in late January. But despite the government’s optimism and market expectations, the IMF is unlikely to bail out Ukraine without having assurances that it will move on longstanding issues, including hiking household gas prices, letting the currency float and tightening the 2013 budget.
Thirdly, the European Court for Human Rights is expected to produce a ruling on imprisoned ex-Prime Minister’s Yulia Tymoshenko’s first lawsuit in Europe. She challenges the legality of her arrest, a position backed even by the government-commissioned report produced by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm recently.
The annual Ukraine-EU summit, which wasn’t held in 2012, is scheduled for Feb. 25. The summit is the most important and highest level bilateral meeting between the two entities. The Association Agreement will feature high on the agenda, as well as Tymoshenko’s imprisonment and its effect on European integration.
Spring will bring a crop of five elections in five single-mandate districts. The exact dates are yet to be scheduled by the new parliament, which convened on Dec. 12, but the fight for the remaining Rada seats will be fierce.
The city of Kyiv will have elections. The mayoral campaign is due to start sometime this spring as the legal deadline for city mayor elections approaches. Although the deadline runs out in May, the election is expected to take place in June, but consensus is yet to emerge on when and indeed if it will happen.
The Cox-Kwasniewski mission, named after Pat Cox, the former European Parliament president, and Aleksander Kwasniewski, former president of Poland, ends in spring. Designed to help make peace inside of Ukraine in the Tymoshenko case, the mission enters 2013 without achieving any significant results.
Ukraine is expected to bid this summer to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. After receiving bids, the International Olympics Committee is expected choose a shortlist in 2014 and announce the winner in 2015.
Crimea will get its usual influx of tourists during the high season, and possibly increased interest from foreigners after National Geographic Traveler included it in its top 20 places worth visiting next year.
Ukraine will host an Ecumenical Patriarch Conference in the summer, but both the dates and the agenda are still to be set.
Autumn will kick off with a jubilee 10th Yalta European Strategy Summit in September. The conference has become one of the biggest national forums where domestic and international issues are discussed.
The International Congress of Bee Keepers will also take place on Sept. 29-Oct. 4. It may not seem like a big deal, but it’s expected to bring 12,000 bee specialists from across the globe to a nation that happens to be one of the most successful globally in the business. Since 2008, Ukraine ranks first in the production of honey among European nations.
Leipzig Hotel, a jewel in the center of Kyiv, is due to open, predicts Ernst & Young. The hotel is owned by Mohammad Zahoor’s ISTIL Group, which publishes the Kyiv Post.
The long-awaited Association Agreement will be signed in November, assuming Ukraine makes progress in ending selective prosecution (read: free Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko). The 1,000-page agreement contains a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement within its structure, which would in the long term help Ukraine’s economy integrate into, and work by the rules of, the European market.
After winning Junior Eurovision on Dec. 1, Ukraine will host the event a year later. It will cost the budget at least Hr 25 million, which is less than the Hr 37 million Ukraine spent on the adult lot to do, since it grabbed international headlines in 2012 with illegal tissue trade scandals.
Also, President Viktor Yanukovych said on Dec. 13 that Ukraine during its chairmanship will “offer our vision of a European security system.”
Apart from the heavy hangover from too many holidays, January is expected to bring at least three things.
Firstly, expect severe cash shortages. The Finance Ministry’s current account balance stood at a paltry Hr 6 billion as of mid-December.
Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund are due to restart in late January. But despite the government’s optimism and market expectations, the IMF is unlikely to bail out Ukraine without having assurances that it will move on longstanding issues, including hiking household gas prices, letting the currency float and tightening the 2013 budget.
Thirdly, the European Court for Human Rights is expected to produce a ruling on imprisoned ex-Prime Minister’s Yulia Tymoshenko’s first lawsuit in Europe. She challenges the legality of her arrest, a position backed even by the government-commissioned report produced by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm recently.
The annual Ukraine-EU summit, which wasn’t held in 2012, is scheduled for Feb. 25. The summit is the most important and highest level bilateral meeting between the two entities. The Association Agreement will feature high on the agenda, as well as Tymoshenko’s imprisonment and its effect on European integration.
Spring will bring a crop of five elections in five single-mandate districts. The exact dates are yet to be scheduled by the new parliament, which convened on Dec. 12, but the fight for the remaining Rada seats will be fierce.
The city of Kyiv will have elections. The mayoral campaign is due to start sometime this spring as the legal deadline for city mayor elections approaches. Although the deadline runs out in May, the election is expected to take place in June, but consensus is yet to emerge on when and indeed if it will happen.
The Cox-Kwasniewski mission, named after Pat Cox, the former European Parliament president, and Aleksander Kwasniewski, former president of Poland, ends in spring. Designed to help make peace inside of Ukraine in the Tymoshenko case, the mission enters 2013 without achieving any significant results.
Ukraine is expected to bid this summer to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. After receiving bids, the International Olympics Committee is expected choose a shortlist in 2014 and announce the winner in 2015.
Crimea will get its usual influx of tourists during the high season, and possibly increased interest from foreigners after National Geographic Traveler included it in its top 20 places worth visiting next year.
Ukraine will host an Ecumenical Patriarch Conference in the summer, but both the dates and the agenda are still to be set.
Autumn will kick off with a jubilee 10th Yalta European Strategy Summit in September. The conference has become one of the biggest national forums where domestic and international issues are discussed.
The International Congress of Bee Keepers will also take place on Sept. 29-Oct. 4. It may not seem like a big deal, but it’s expected to bring 12,000 bee specialists from across the globe to a nation that happens to be one of the most successful globally in the business. Since 2008, Ukraine ranks first in the production of honey among European nations.
Leipzig Hotel, a jewel in the center of Kyiv, is due to open, predicts Ernst & Young. The hotel is owned by Mohammad Zahoor’s ISTIL Group, which publishes the Kyiv Post.
The long-awaited Association Agreement will be signed in November, assuming Ukraine makes progress in ending selective prosecution (read: free Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko). The 1,000-page agreement contains a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement within its structure, which would in the long term help Ukraine’s economy integrate into, and work by the rules of, the European market.
After winning Junior Eurovision on Dec. 1, Ukraine will host the event a year later. It will cost the budget at least Hr 25 million, which is less than the Hr 37 million Ukraine spent on the adult version of the competition in 2009.
Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected]
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