Farmland market launch: MP reveals when Constitutional Court to rule on reform

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine on June 3 will start considering a motion filed by a number of lawmakers challenging the law on farmland turnover.

That's according to MP Olha Sovhiria (SoP), Parliament's Permanent Representative to the Constitutional Court, Deputy Chair of the Working Group on Settlement of the Constitutional Crisis, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Legal Policy.

The CCU will be looking into the constitutionality of land reform, Sovhiria wrote on Telegram.

The hearing, which is set to be broadcast live, will see the sides and experts deliver their position in the case.

Sovhiria also referred to her post of September 1, where she reported that CCU had received three motions from people's deputies related to the constitutionality of land reform.

"The position of all three motions boils down to the idea that the free circulation of farmland undermines the foundations of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, and also that land reform is possible only if it is approved at an all-Ukrainian referendum," the parliamentarian said.

Land market launch in Ukraine

• On April 28, 2020, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law on the amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the conditions of farmland turnover, introducing the land market in Ukraine from July 1, 2021.
• The law provides for phased land reform: from July 1, 2021, citizens of Ukraine will be able to buy farmland plots capped at 100 hectares. At stage 2, from January 1, 2024, the cap will be raised to 10,000 hectares, while legal entities will also be allowed to acquire land plots.