Ukraine must ease business pressure, boost investment protection — lawyer

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

“If we look at the situation globally, the state is doing absolutely insufficient work to protect entrepreneurs. There are no systemic solutions in place to address the key problems faced by businesses today. In fact, the state’s actions are having the opposite effect, scaring off investors. For example, when assets are transferred to ARMA for management, the actual owner is deprived of their property, and they simply cannot get it back,” Tkachenko said.

The lawyer pointed out that Ukraine faces a number of systemic issues. He emphasized that in order to foster business development, problems in the operations of law enforcement agencies must be resolved, and judicial reform needs to be implemented.

“The state should promote investment development, not put pressure on investors. For instance, the draft law aimed at strengthening the protection of bona fide purchasers only attempts to address a small part of the numerous problems businesses are facing today. Lawmakers should pay more attention to broader systemic issues — such as the complete lack of accountability among executive authorities, who can do whatever they want. Attention must also be paid to the lawlessness of law enforcement officers, who are not subject to any restrictions. As for the independence of the judiciary and attempts to derail judicial reform — these issues must be addressed now in order to systematically solve business problems and allow Ukraine to develop,” he added.

• On March 26, Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi called for support of a petition by former Hlukhiv mayor Michel Tereshchenko to veto Law No. 12089 “On Amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine Regarding the Strengthening of Protection of Bona Fide Purchasers’ Rights.”