E.U. extends restrictions on non-citizen entry until June 30

The June 5 meeting of E.U. internal affairs ministers
supported extending from until the month’s end restrictions on the entrance of
non-citizens, European Commissar Ylva Johansson told reporters, as reported by
the eurointegration.com.ua news site. The original opening was planned for June
15. “There was strong support among the ministers that it’s first necessary to
renew the functioning of the Schengen zone, and then transition to the opening
of external borders,” she said. The canceling of restrictions will be
considered for July 1, she said. In the meantime, certain categories of
travelers will be allowed entrance, such as seasonal workers, the website said.

Ukrainian President Zelensky called upon upholding
maintaining social distancing and wearing masks to prevent an uptick in coronavirus
infections at the government’s weekly meeting to discuss the coronavirus
situation on June 8. He opposed removing restrictions on mass gathering as of
June 10, as had been mentioned by some high-ranking officials. The relaxing of
quarantine restrictions has benefited the economy, Zelensky said, as reported
on the president’s website.

The regions of Chernihiv, Lviv, Rivne, and Volyn, as
well as the city of Kyiv, don’t meet the criteria to relax quarantine
restrictions, the Health Ministry reported on June 7. The next day, Lviv Mayor
Andriy Sadovyi and Lviv Regional Administration Head Maksym Kozytskiy appealed
to Prime Minister Shmyhal in a Facebook post to allow for the renewal of all
regional intercity public transit in special regime. About 150K local residents
who rely on traveling to Lviv from surrounding towns and villages remain
deprived of such transport for the third month, they stressed.

More than 5,000 individual entrepreneurships and about
1,000 new enterprises were registered in the past week, which is about the same
rate as in the pre-coronavirus period, PM Shymhal said in a June 6 Facebook
post. Meanwhile, he said he expects parliament to approve this week the
government’s New Money SME lending program, which will offer UAH 10 bln in
low-interest loans of 5%-9%. 

An estimated 394 new coronavirus infections were
reported in Ukraine on June 8, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov announced the
next day, as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site. Of these new cases, 34
were medical workers, or 8.6%. Thirteen died on the same day and 217 recoveries
were confirmed.

Zenon Zawada: The
coronavirus situation is largely stabilized in Ukraine. With medical workers
accounting for fewer coronavirus infections, we see the major concern related
to the pandemic being the inability of Ukrainians to travel to the E.U. without
special permission or designation. Despite statements from the prime minister
indicating recovery, Ukraine’s economic conditions aren’t able to satisfy those
who depend on the E.U. for employment. We had suspected they could become
politically active, but the climate is very calm at the moment, without any
major protest movements. So we expect those dependent on the E.U. will simply
wait until July to be able to return.