Land market should not result in latifundia, - the appeal of the Synod of UGCC Bishops
The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which was held on November 29-30 in Lviv, issued an appeal regarding agrarian reform in Ukraine.
Its participants note that the land is a gift of God and it is granted by God for the common good of all people.
“Every possession of the earth by man is relative and subject to this primary will of God the Creator. Therefore, man is only the ruler of God's gifts and cannot exclusively appropriate them,” the document says.
The bishops believe that agrarian reform is necessary and it is impossible to indefinitely extend the moratorium on the introduction of the land market. However, in their opinion, no rush needed to implement the reform.
“The market of agricultural land, which should reveal the great potential for the economy of Ukraine, should be implemented, but after careful preparation of the procedure for its launch. In addition to the necessary laws, it is necessary to take care of the following: building a fair judicial and law enforcement systems, the organization of cheap lending to farmers and subsidies to farmers from EU countries, improving environmental standards for soil conservation, reforming the State Land Registry and well analyze and eliminate all possible corruption risks. These activities should be accompanied by a broad educational work of the citizens of our state on this issue,” the document says.
The Synod of Bishops of the UGCC asks the leadership of Ukraine not to accelerate the land reform artificially, but to approach this extremely important issue thoroughly.
