Italy to open Consulate in Odessa soon

A very short and sweet entry today.

Yet another diplomatic mission will soon open in Odessa – this time Italian - which will please the good woman if it has the ability to produce Visas, as Italy is a nation that particularly attracts her for reasons of history, architecture, food and of course fashion.

Very good.  That makes half a dozen Consulates opened in Odessa in as many years and leaves Odessa housing close to 20 diplomatic missions.

Naturally the UK isn’t one of them – not even an Honorary Consul, despite an ever growing and vibrant local diplomatic community – but I have come to expect nothing less.

International Toursim Bourse – Berlin

It’s been a while since I wrote about anything specific to Odessa – and today could be yet another day where I concentrate on the shenanigans within Ukraine or the broader regional realpolitik that effects Ukraine – there is always so much to comment upon when living in a nation stuck between the geopolitical masses of the EU and Russia.

However, I feel obliged to write about something local again – so I will – before undoubtedly returning to the regional chess board within which Ukraine is but a chess piece.

In March the International Tourism Bourse takes place in Berlin.  It boasts 150,00 M2 of exhibition space and attracts over 100,000 tourism trade professionals each year.

Ukraine has had a presence there for a number of years – but this year, not only will Ukraine have its own pitch, but Odessa will have its own separate pitch as well – making it the only Ukrainian region to have one – quite rightly with over 1 million tourists from Germany, Italy, the USA, Russia and France last year – not to mention a sprinkling from other countries as well!

So ponder on that Crimea, Carpathia, Lviv and Kyiv!

Doesn’t that make me sound so very……provincial.  I promise to try and be more erudite tomorrow when I return to the bigger picture.  In the meantime though, if you happen to be in Berlin when the ITB gathering occurs, be certain to have a look at the Odessa pitch!

Slovakia – the Ukrainian tourist’s best friend?

Well I was going to write something quite heavy relating to the forthcoming visit of Stefan Fule to Ukraine on 7th February, bit it will have to wait – if it ever gets written at all now.

Instead, we will have a look at recent statements coming from the Slovakian diplomatic missions in Ukraine.

“If a person already had a visa and used it within the law, that is if he had a tourist visa and really visited the stated place and returned on time, we can give him a visa for five years.” 

If the applicant for a visa has never been to a country of the Schengen area, he will receive a visa for a period of six months to two years, and if he has already had a Schengen visa, he can get a multiple-entry visa for two to five years.

“Slovak diplomats issued 6,000 visas to Ukrainians in January, or almost two times more than in December. They can be issued in Uzhgorod or Kyiv.” – Janka Burianova Slovak Consular General Ukraine

Blimey – 5 year Schengen Visas available from your nearest Slovak diplomatic mission in Ukraine!  (As long as you travel into the Schengen area and leave it via Slovakia).

There will be queues outside their mission in Kyiv and the airports of Bratislava and Kosice may well become a transit hub (after a short stay in Slovakia as per the Schengen rules), for a lot of Ukrainians wanting to visit nations that would otherwise turn down their Visa applications – particularly such long term Visas!

It certainly won’t do Slovak tourism any harm – even if many Ukrainian visitors are only going to stay 24/48 hours in Slovakia before heading onwards into deepest darkest Schengen territory.

Temporary changes – Odessa Airport – Rosh Hashanah

For regular fliers to and from Odessa airport, be aware of a few temporary changes between 12 – 21 September at the terminal building.

Odessa will be handling 40 flights relating to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and as always there will be a lot of Jews arriving and departing from Odessa airport as they make their way to, or are returning from, Uman, where they visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman who was laid to rest there in 1810.

The result of this religious influx this year, I am reliably informed, is one of increased security and a decision to deal with the religious tourists/pilgrims separately within the Odessa airport terminal.  Thus, do not be surprised if there will be slight delays in processing of travelers and luggage as a result.

So if you are arriving or departing Odessa between 12 – 21 September, my advice will be to allow yourself a little more check-in time in case the airport staff are dealing with the additional flights, passengers and sensibilities of this annual influx.

Ukrainian Cypriot relations

The EU’s very naughty boy, the offshore tax haven of Cyprus, and Ukraine are getting ever more friendly.

Last week, the Cypriot President paid his first ever visit to Ukraine, and this whilst Cyprus is also holding the EU Presidency.

Amongst the somewhat more bizarre things to happen whilst in Ukraine, President Chrsitofias was given an honorary doctorate by Mariupol University, seemingly on the basis that Mariupol is twined with Paphos in Cyprus.  I wonder if I can get an honorary doctorate from an Odessa university on the basis it is twined with Liverpool?  It would cut out all that tedious research and thesis writing – let alone having to successfully defend said thesis.

Anyway, President Christofias has given his full and public support to Ukrainian integration with the EU last week with no mention of the on-going domestic issues regarding Ms Tymoshenko.  Something that may not go down to well given the Cypriot presidency of the EU at present.

That said, given that Ms Tymoshenko is known to have Cypriot interests and Cypriot fronts for interests, (just as she does in Czech Rep and Poland etc) and undoubtedly so do a lot of the current government, he maybe thought it better not to mention individuals with stakes in Cyprus from either side of the political line publicly.

At the same time, President Yanukovych was stating that Ukraine was seeking observer status with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, talking up the ratification of the FTA with the CIS, and stating that the internal affairs of Ukraine will not be subjected to EU pressure and as such if formal EU integration had to wait, so be it!

One of the very interesting things to emerge from his visit are the plans to scrap Visa fees for Ukrainians to Cyprus.

To the EU relating to migration, Cyprus not being a Schengen nation this presents few problems.  To Cyprus, it presents a massive opportunity to claim a stake in the Ukrainian tourists who head for Turkey and Egypt simply to avoid the tedious hassles in getting a Schengen Visa.  I would expect Cyprus to see a marked increase in Ukrainian visitors very rapidly indeed.

Of course it also allows for Ukrainians to visit their money and off-shore companies without problems too.  And it is not just the Oligarchy who have such companies and bank accounts in Cyprus.  A sizeable and growing number of average Ukrainians also take advantage of this, and why not when it costs only Euro 4000 to do completely legally.

It does however, also open up part of the EU to claims for asylum with relative ease for Ukrainians on EU soil, something the EU has been keen to put as many hurdles in the way of as possible.  Something else that will annoy Brussels about Cyprus no doubt!

The other attraction of Cyrus to the average Ukrainian aside for free visas, the ease of setting up off-shore companies and bank accounts and the natural beauty of Cyprus as a tourist destination, will be the absolute ease of getting permanent residency in Cyprus, and thus within an EU nation (albeit not Schengen).

Undoubtedly, the Cypriot private banks will also be rubbing their hands with glee, as whilst the Cypriot economy may very well be struggling, the private banks are awash with Russian and Ukrainian cash off-shored.  More will surely follow once Visas become free of charge and it takes its place along side Turkey and Egypt as a top tourist destination for the average Ukrainian.

Naturally I have been at pains to state “average Ukrainian” thus far, as the upper ranks of society have no issues already.

In fact in the past year, Cyprus has granted 26 citizenships “by exception” to very wealthy Russians and Ukrainians.  Possibly something for Eurpol to worry about when we consider the sources of some of this wealth to which Cypriot (and by default EU) citizenship has been granted.

That said, when one considers the Russians and Ukrainians (and their associated wealth from dubious sources)  given permanent leave to remain, asylum, or indeed UK citizenship who live in and around London, why should Cyprus not take advantage of the money these people have as well?

Those Ukrainians with money who will now see Cyprus as a top holiday destination will also no doubt consider property there – very much like Spain became for the British 20 years ago – in fact since the issue of free Visas reached the ears of my good lady wife, she has already been hitting the Internet looking at property there.

As she states, despite being married to a UK citizen for almost a decade, she is not entitled to permanent residency in the UK unless she lives there – which she doesn’t want to do – and thus has to arse about with UK Visas when we want to visit.  And as she says, for an island, the UK is quite devoid of sunshine, palm trees and welcoming seas to swim in.

Buying a property in Cyprus, getting permanent residency on an island with sunshine and inviting seas to swim in, on the other hand, for her is very simple indeed.

The abolishing of fees for Visas between Cyprus and Ukraine would seem to be a bilateral win-win for Cyprus as far as I can see.

Having a day off and going to the beach

Today I am having a day off.

I live in a very nice place, 300 meters from the sea in the very popular area of Odessa called Arcadia, and thus far in the usual glorious summer weather I have hardly been to the beach!

Therefore, today, I am going today to enjoy the sun – and the view – so there!

Odessa International Movie Festival – Starts today

OK, something local and depending upon film content, non-political.

What?  Why? – Well with the Ukrainian parliamentary elections only a few months away, I am writing a little something about opinion polls and surveys and what makes them  a useful, or indeed useless, guide to public opinion.

As normal I am trying to remove all academic language and pollsters jargon as many people aren’t that fluent in “Academese” and the sight of such mombo-jumbo tends to make them leave this blog and go and look at pictures of pretty Slavic women instead – which can be found anywhere and in all walks of life.  You won’t learn anything but looking at those photographs!

However, removing all the “Academese” from something that is inherently academic has thus far taken two attempts and I am still not happy with it.  It is also a post far better left until the official electioneering is under way and some reliable and some unreliable polls start to be quoted by commentators and journalists, some of which will be far too lazy to get behind the numbers and  see if the polls stand up to scrutiny.

So whilst I am working on that, I thought I would bring you some local and timely information should you be arriving in Odessa in the next few days – namely the Odessa International Movie Festival.

This year, we have the following itinerary, starting today:

- July 10 – 21 – art exhibition by the Festival’s Head Artist’s Alexander Roitburd (@ A. Korobchinskiy Art Center);
- July 13 – Red Carpet event and Festival’s Opening Ceremony (@ Odessa National Opera and Ballet Theater);
- July 13 – 21 – festive fairs (@ Odessa Academic Music Comedy Theater, Primorskiy Blvd);
- July 13 – 21 – open movies demonstration (@ Lanzheronovskiy Descent);
- July 13 – 21 – festival movies demonstration (@ Odessa National Opera and Ballet Theater);
- July 14 – “Big City Lights” mute movies demonstration (@ Potyomkin Stairs);
- July 21 – Red Carpet event and Festival’s Closing Ceremony demonstration (@ Odessa National Opera and Ballet Theater).

Now I’m going back to rewriting something you may not see for some weeks!

Are the words of the prophets written on the subway walls?

As is well known to all EU citizens (and some other nationalities), they do not need a Visa to enter Ukraine for up to 90 days in a 180 day period.  It has been this was since 2005/6 for most.

As is well known to all Ukrainians, the reciprocal approach has not yet been delivered, although an official roadmap to achieving this was given to Ukraine in October 2011 and through Ukraine’s own ineptitude, (or rather business squabbles over who will produce the necessary biometric passports required) matters have not progressed as far  and as quickly as they could have.

The issue of who will produce the passports was resolved last week and production of biometric passports will commence in December.  Thus there remains the matter of data protection of the biometric data to legislatively deal with at RADA level.

All jolly good except there is also the issue of several amendments to the initial  roadmap that need to be signed and ratified by certain EU entities.  Those entities namely the European Commission and European Council.  For those unaware of exactly who does what and how things work between the European Parliament, European Commission and European Council, I wrote a a very brief explanation back in February.

However, one wonders why MEPs are now calling on the European Commission and European Council to sign and ratify the amendments to the roadmap.

Firstly, European Commissioner for European Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policies, Stefan Fule, is consistently on the record stating that Visa-free is not an issue to be tied to any other political issues.  He continuously rattles off the policy line that Visa-free is about people to people contact and is not subject to any other political influences or policies other than the required statutory and technical obligations of those nations offered Visa-free with the EU.   A pure and wholesome policy motivator indeed, and a founding overarching principle from the conception of the EU itself.

Ergo, if the European Commission are to believe and act upon the words of one of their most prominent and public figures, let alone one of the EU’s own founding principles, there is absolutely no reason for the delay in the European Commission in signing and ratifying these amendments to a roadmap the Commission itself gave to Ukraine only last year.  By signing the amendments, they do not speed up the readiness of Ukraine to meet the legal and technical requirements or decrease the evaluation time to see these legal and technical changes work, which is likely to be a year or two.

What possible reason can the European Commission give for delaying the signing and ratifying of the amendments to their own roadmap that does not make Stefan Fule seem a liar, namely political strings that he regularly states are not attached?  Does he speak for the EU Commission or not?  Is Visa-free really about people to people contact without any other political influences as he so often states, or is it to become a political lever to use against the current Ukrainian government over unrelated issues the EU has concerns about, in complete and utter contradiction to what Stefan Fule says on behalf of the European Commission?

Next we have the European Council who also have yet to sign and ratify the amendments.  Quite possibly a more tricky proposition given it is compromised of 27 sovereign national representatives each with their own position and thus consensus must be reached.  However, consensus must have been reached for the initial roadmap to be given to Ukraine in the first place and the pending amendments negotiated either with or in the full knowledge of the European Council are unlikely to be much of a hurdle if at all.

This becomes even more difficult to explain when only this week, the European Council penned and passed very quickly, a roadmap for Visa-free with Turkey.  That would be Turkey with a worse reputation for human rights abuses than Ukraine, Turkey with a far worse reputation for media control but also Turkey who will be very useful regarding Syria right now, not to mention a booming economy and a key reliable energy producing and transportation route for the EU.  A carrot for Turkey of course, but a carrot tainted with politics in contradiction to the people to people ideology the EU claims is the pure and only motivator behind Visa-free agreements.

That is not to say Turkey will get Visa-free any faster than Ukraine, but it serves as an example of just how quickly the EU institutions can act with a third nation if it suits their interests.

It has become quite apparent from the Turkish opinion polls that the Turkish public have less and less time for the EU (much like the public of the EU nations to be fair) and now in Ukraine, anti EU graffiti stating “Stop EU” is starting to appear (above the red scrawl in the below photograph) where once it was never seen, despite all major political parties claiming to be pro-EU.

For the EU to loose the public goodwill of the Turkish is careless, to loose that of Ukraine as well is shear stupidity.  The writing, as we can see, is now starting to appear on the wall.  That said, both Turkish and Ukrainian public are very well aware of what Stefan Fule says relating to Visa-fee and also quite aware of the actions of the EU which do not seem to add real substance to his words, all to often seeming to contradict them in fact.

This is also something reflected in comments by some of the greatest friends the EU has in Russia who continually appeal publicly for the EU to do as it says and not spout empty promises and rhetoric in various policy areas.

It seems generally amongst the citizens of the nations in the EU neighbourhood, they are getting very tired of hearing “Yes” when it really means “No”, and are getting rather bored of waiting for the EU to actually walk its own  talk.  The people of the surrounding nations, maybe unsurprisingly, are becoming rather dismissive of EU plans, strategies and promises meant to engage them.

That said, the EU is rapidly becoming perceived as an irrelevance when it comes to influence, even amongst its most ardent supporters, so maybe the dismissive attitude of the people outside the political classes on its borders  has some merit.

Meanwhile, let’s see what happens with the signing and ratification of amendments to the EU Visa-free roadmap.  In all honestly, even if signed and ratified tomorrow, Ukraine is unlikely to be in a position to push for the implementation of Visa-free for 3 or 4 years due to its own ineptitude.