Although the legislature will continue working on the bill improving it, one can say now that Ukraine is leaving the narrow circle of countries with the ban on land sales, particularly Belarus, Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has initiated changes in the agrarian sector. On his instruction, the Cabinet has prepared a draft law on land reform while the Parliament will have to pass the bill along with the abolishment of land sales moratorium the validity term of which expires on January 1, 2020. In accordance with the land law, Ukrainian physical and juridical persons, territorial communities and the State have a right to buy agricultural areas. Also, leaseholders have a preferential right to purchases of farmland pieces. Under the law, the amount of land owned by a region stands at 15% and the State can have 0.5% of agricultural land in its ownership. Municipal and State-owned land will be sold at auctions.
At first, only Ukrainian citizens will have a right to buy farmland. Foreigners and foreign companies will have an access to land purchasing in Ukraine only after an all-Ukraine referendum which will be held in the nearest future, Zelensky informed.
Before voting at the Parliament, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said that the land reform was intended for Ukrainians and in the interests of Ukrainians. “It is impossible to change the life of millions of people living in the village for better if nothing is changed and if people are given no possibility to use their own land at their discretion. Land reform is a challenge to us!”, he wrote. In his words, the land reform is not about land sales. The land reform is about the restoration of justice and a right of man to decide what to do with his plot – either to sell it, to work it or to lease it. “Nearly two million Ukrainians died without getting any profit from their land. They couldn’t even bequeath their land to their children. I do not wish for six million land shareholders to have the same fate”, said the Head of the Government.
Western financial institutions have supported the intention of the Ukrainian Government to open the market of agricultural land. In the opinion of the World Bank, the land reform will promote economic growth, improve living standards of Ukrainian people and enhance the agricultural potential of the country.
At the same time, no one could seriously believe that the decision to open land market in Ukraine would be passed painlessly. All opposition factions voted against it. Before the voting was held in the Parliament, actions of protests took place in a number of regions. Protesters were blocking motorways. Crowds of indignant people gathered at the walls of the Verkhovna Rada to show their opposition to the decision on land sales. Some members of the parliament faction “Servants of the People” obviously had doubts too. After all, early in the morning, before the Parliament went into session, deputies gathered for a meeting with President Zelensky and Premier Honcharuk to discuss a necessity to pass a law on the abolishment of land sales moratorium.
The newspaper Holos Ukrainy
