President Petro Poroshenko’s party, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, has proposed privatizing all coal mining enterprises and liquidating or mothballing those that cannot be sold. This proposal is contained in the draft coalition agreement prepared by the party.
In addition, the draft coalition agreement proposes selling coal on coal exchanges (electronic auctions) with the aim of switching to market pricing for steam coal. It also provides for liquidating the Coal of Ukraine state enterprise and switching to direct contracts for sale of this type of fuel.
It also provides for establishing a system of social support for employees of those coal mines that are being liquidated or mothballed and the populations of the territories on which they are located.
In recent years, the authorities have repeatedly announced plans to privatize coal mines, but only the most attractive assets in this industry have actually been sold or leased out. Many mines are now idle because the central government has now lost control over part of the of Donbass industrial region, as a result of which there is a shortage of coal on the domestic market and Ukraine has begun importing coal.
