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1141. Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Ukraine

Author:
Hannah Vakhitova and Tom Coupe
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
Ukraine is a migration-intensive country, with an estimated 1.5-2 million labour migrants (about 5% of the working-age population). Slightly over a half of these migrants travel for work to the EU. This study discusses the impact of this large pool of migrants on both the sending and receiving countries. It also assesses how liberalisation of the EU visa regime, something that the EU is currently negotiating with Ukraine, will affect the stream of Ukrainian labour migrants to EU countries. Our study suggests that the number of tourists will increase substantially, whereas the increase in the number of labour migrants is unlikely to be very large. We also suggest that the number of legal migrants is likely to increase, but at the same time the number of illegal migrants will decline because currently only a third of migrants from Ukraine have both residence and work permits in the EU, while about a quarter of them stay there illegally.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Partnerships, Social Policy, and Mobility
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe

1142. Tatiana Zhurzhenko, Borderlands Into Bordered Lands. Geopolitics of Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine (Stuggart: Ibidem Verlag, 2010)

Author:
Viktoria Potapkina
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The border between Russia and Ukraine became a political reality in 1991 with the breakup of the Soviet Union and the creation of two independent states. Since then, Ukraine's Eastern border has turned itself into a perfect laboratory for studying processes of border construction.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Ukraine, and Soviet Union

1143. Implementing Deep Free Trade between EU and Ukraine – Time for a new approach

Author:
Julia Langbein
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
In December 2011, the European Union (EU) and Ukraine completed their negotiations on an Association Agreement (AA), including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). The DCFTA does not only foresee the reduction of custom tariffs but seeks to foster regulatory convergence through which Ukraine is expected to unilaterally converge its national regulatory practices and government arrangements to the EU model in a number of areas such as technical standards, food safety, state aid, and company law. Up to now, the EU did not sign the AA as a reaction to the deteriorating political rights and the rule of law, exemplified by the increasing politicization of Ukraine's judiciary system during the trail against ex-Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. It is in the hands of the Ukrainian government to change the domestic situation so that the AA and the DCFTA can be signed. However, once the DCFTA will be set in force, the EU is well advised not to leave Ukraine alone with the challenge to implement all its provisions. The EU needs to develop a new approach to ensure the successful implementation of the agreement and to maximize the effectiveness of the EU's impact on regulatory convergence in Ukraine. It is necessary for the EU to flank the incentive of market access with capacity-building measures that do not predominantly target state authorities but also increase regulatory capacities of private stakeholders such as firms and business associations.
Topic:
Security, Health, International Trade and Finance, Bilateral Relations, Food, and Law
Political Geography:
Ukraine

1144. The return of tyranny to Ukraine

Author:
Orysia Lutsevych
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Despite the gains of the Orange Revolution, the spectre of tyranny is once again hanging over Ukraine.
Political Geography:
Ukraine

1145. Reports Of The Bear's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Author:
Mark Adomanis
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Foreign Affairs
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Nicholas Eberstadt (“The Dying Bear,” November/December 2011) is surely correct that a rapidly depopulating Russia would be confronted with a number of essentially irresolvable economic, military, and political problems. However, data from Russia's Federal State Statistics Service suggest that over the last decade, Russia's demographic indicators have in fact been getting better. Moreover, this improvement has intensified since the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis, confounding a number of Western experts who predicted that the downturn would have a similar eªect within Russia to that of the country's debt default in 1998, when fertility plummeted and mortality skyrocketed.
Topic:
Political Economy
Political Geography:
Russia and Ukraine

1146. Eschewing Choice: Ukraine's Strategy on Russia and the EU

Author:
Elena Gnedina and Evghenia Sleptsova
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
Ukraine has long been castigated for its noncommittal attitude to cooperation with the EU, this being part of its 'multi-vector' foreign policy. Such a policy was widely attributed to the failings of domestic elites, which delay reform for fear of losing rents and power. This CEPS Working Document suggests, however, that the recent setback in EU-Ukraine relations highlights more complex reasons behind this. First, it asserts that a pro-European vector is not a self-evident choice for Ukraine, which is economically interdependent with both Russia and the EU. Second, it finds that the economic crisis has made the EU less attractive in the short term. In good times business was looking to Europe for opportunities to develop. But in times of crisis, it is looking to Russia for cheap resources to survive. Despite these unfavourable short-term trends, the authors conclude that an association agreement with the EU stands out as the only alternative that promises to put the shaky Ukrainian economy back on track towards long-term sustainable economic growth.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Ukraine

1147. The Underachiever: Ukraine's Economy Since 1991

Author:
Pekka Sutela
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
When Ukraine became independent in 1991, there were expectations that it would in the near future become a wealthy free market democracy and a full member of the European and Euro-Atlantic communities. The largest country geographically wholly European, and the fifth-biggest European nation by size of population, it was hoped, would become a member of the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, and Atlantic Ocean

1148. Ukraine's Parliamentary Elections 2012: A Critical Moment for Democracy

Author:
Anna Borshchevskaya
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
On October 28, 2012, Ukraine will hold parliamentary elections—the country's sixth since gaining independence in 1991 and first since presidential and local elections that took place in January-February and October 2010, respectively.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Reform
Political Geography:
Ukraine

1149. Tableau de bord des pays d’Europe centrale et orientale et d’Eurasie 2012 (Volume 2 : Eurasie)

Author:
Jean-Pierre Pagé, Anne De Tinguy, Jacques Sapir, Julien Vercueil, Hélène Clément-Pitiot, Matthieu Combe, Vitaly Denysyuk, and Raphaël Jozan
Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia Dashboard, 2012.
Topic:
Economics, European Union, Finance, and Regional Integration
Political Geography:
Russia, Central Asia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Eastern Europe, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Central Europe, and Belarus

1150. Land Reform in Ukraine

Author:
Valeriya Klymenko
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
National Security and Defence
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
Land reform in Ukraine lasts for over 20 years now – slow, contradictory, with numerous violations of interests and rights of rural workers and existing laws. During 1990’s - early 2000’s, most of the villagers became the owners of land parcels, but were left with no means for land cultivation and no funds for their purchase (in particular, due to the loss of savings and galloping inflation in the early 1990’s, as well as due to a time-gap between distribution of former collective lands and the actual distribution of collective farms property among the new landowners). As a result, the villagers – sometimes not voluntarily and not always to the tenant of their choice – were forced to lease out their lands. According to the Razumkov Centre’s survey results, as of February 2012, about 52% of landowners leased out their land parcels, and only 7% of them were fully satisfied with leasing terms, another 7% – did not really know who they lease out their land to, 36% – were unaware how much their tenants should be paying them. At the same time, private ownership rights to land of rural workers are not absolute, since the disposal of land is restricted to inheritance and/or sale for public or community needs. As a result, no one is entitled to buy an agricultural land. This situation has emerged as a result of the moratorium on sale and purchase of agricultural land, introduced in 1992. It remains in power for over 20 years now. During this time, the issue of agricultural land market – one of the most controversial and politicized issues in Ukraine – has been widely discussed. However, even today, it seems there is no actual or expected consensus on the issue either in the society or among political forces.
Topic:
Government, Public Policy, Land Reform, and Farmers
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine