SMEs protest quarantine conditions at cabinet building

Several hundred small and medium-sized entrepreneurs
held a protest the morning of Apr. 29 at the Cabinet of Ministers building to
demand the equal relaxation of quarantine restrictions to all sectors of
business as long as sanitary conditions are upheld. The prior evening, Prime
Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote in his Facebook page that he has received many
requests to relax the severe quarantine in place, to which he stressed that “we
expect the peak of infections in early May, which we should successfully
undergo in order to begin the process of loosening restrictions.” He outlined
the government’s plan as “adaptive quarantine” to transition to new social
norms, which has been taken by Czechia and Poland. “The gradual removal of
restrictions will give us the ability to constantly control the situation with
infections and localize them effectively in the event of outbreaks,” Shmyhal
wrote.

Ukraine’s cabinet has temporarily prohibited Ukrainian
who work abroad from returning to their countries of employment despite
requests for labor from EU member-states, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said
during an Apr. 28 online briefing. It would be “illogical” to organize charter
planes for workers to return to countries where the pandemic is ongoing,
especially when the government is still trying to return those who remain stuck
in various countries, he said. “In the conditions of the pandemic widening, any
trip is exposure to the danger of infection, especially when the trip is
occurring,” Kuleba said. He later added, “We understand the need for workers
from our partners and we will be ready to review this position in the context
of changes in the situation with the coronavirus pandemic.”

Coronavirus infections rose by 456 cases, or 4.8%,
from the prior day to a total of 9,866 as of noon, Apr. 29, according to the
Center for Public Health of the Health Ministry of Ukraine. An estimated 250
people have died from the COVID-19 disease, an increase of 11 cases from the
prior day. Recovered patients rose by 111 cases to 1,103 in total.

Zenon Zawada: As could be
expected, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs are utterly dissatisfied with
quarantine conditions being relaxed for certain businesses – deemed to be
“essential” – and not others. That’s even when their particular sector is
accounted for in the latter phases of the five-phase relaxation plan,
with a possible acceleration. They’re also dissatisfied of news reports of
elite restaurants and other service businesses secretly opening their doors and
catering to the elites.

We expect the cabinet to decide today to allow food
markets to operate (under strict sanitary conditions), which will satisfy
millions of people involved in this economic sphere. This will muster the
government enough political capital to keep the dissatisfied SMEs at bay for
several weeks. It’s worth nothing that numerous small businesses are already
operating in Kyiv in defiance of quarantine restrictions, which is probably the
case in many cities.

As also could be expected, those who returned from work
in Europe are now wanting to return, a political demand we expected to reach
protest levels by mid-May. We expect the government will allow these workers to
return to Europe within weeks, if not days, of these countries relaxing their
quarantine restrictions, and not the 30-day wait announced by Shmyhal last week.