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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Ukraine: Free market of landExactly two months from now, beginning on January 1, 2008. Ukraine will put an end to the moratorium on selling and buying agricultural lands. For a country with such big size and abundance of high-quality lands, such move will inevitably attract foreign investors. How the land market will evolve? Who will be the main players? Can the process of turning the land into commodity be reversed? These are some of the most interesting questions that need to find answers. Beginning on January 1, 2008, private owners of land in Ukraine will have right to sell it. Up to now, the law of the land was a moratorium on the free market imposed by the ex-president Kuchma many years ago. The idea was to preserve the land from the grabbing hand of financial speculators, both domestic and foreign. Instead of free market, Ukraine applied a form of semi-private ownership; former collective farm workers were given the right to own without the right to sell; some private farms were given the right to lease against rather modest rent but without buying. This method of post-communist agriculture wasn't quite successful in terms of productivity. Much of the land in Ukraine, one of the best in the world, is now abandoned or under-cultivated by people without real interest in long-term investment. This is supposed to change in 2008. The moratorium will be lifted. The land, estimated at $6,000-7,000 per acre, will be sold to the highest bidder. There are already some real interests for buying coming from the United States and from France, two countries with traditionally strong agricultures. Together with some local private farms and possibly some Russian interests, these are the main players that will try to take as much land as possible. The land itself is of remarkable good quality given the possible quantity of production, but there are some important drawbacks that any investor, especially those coming from far-away countries, should be warned in advance. The first problem with the agricultural land in Ukraine is the level of soil pollution. After decades of being the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, the land in Ukraine has seen any imaginable and unimaginable chemical experimentation. Trying to feed its population using non-economical stimuli, the Soviet Union had to compensate with heavy chemical fertilization what lacked with the farmers' interest to produce more. The result is that the soil in many parts cannot produce anything that will stand the consumer standards of both the European Union and the other advanced countries. Those who buy agricultural land in Ukraine will have to find foreign markets first given the low consumption capacity of Ukraine itself. The second problem with the agriculture in Ukraine, in general, is the climate. The bottom line is that the rainy months aren't in the spring, when the crops need water most, but in late summer when the hail can destroy some of the crops. Can the process of turning the land into economic commodity be reversed? In other words, is it possible to witness another forced collectivization like the one of 1920s? The brief answer is 'no', but it shouldn't be taken as a sign for unbounded celebrations. The red tape bureaucracy and some anti-market administrative reflexes are still alive. Private ownership in Ukraine isn't as protected as in countries such as France or the United States. The civil servants are looking for bribes everywhere and in everything. The expectations that once in good hands, the land of Ukraine will reach the productivity of Canada or Argentina are just rosy dreams.
Ukraine country profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Ukraine.
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