German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that a “Marshall Plan” should be created for the reconstruction of Ukraine, in which the European Union will play a special role.
As European Truth reports, this is stated in a joint article by Scholz and von der Leyen, published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday.
They recalled that the countries of the “Group of Seven”, the European Union and its member states have already provided Ukraine with more than 35 billion euros in emergency aid “to help Ukraine meet its urgent financial needs.”
“In addition to this emergency aid, we must now think about rebuilding the country, even if peace still seems far away. The reconstruction of destroyed housing, schools, roads, bridges, infrastructure and energy supply – all this must be done now so that the country can quickly get on the legs. Because Ukraine needs the prospect that it will be able to grow economically again as soon as the war is over,” Scholz and von der Leyen believe.
According to the head of the German government and the president of the European Commission, neither Ukraine itself nor its individual partners are capable of coping with the reconstruction of Ukraine against the background of the fact that losses amount to at least 350 billion euros.
“We must solve this all together – the EU, the G7 and our partners far beyond their borders. Of course, international financial institutions and leading international organizations must join this. And in the long term, it will be important for private donors and companies to invest in the recovery of Ukraine.” , – they add.
In order to make support for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine as effective as possible, Scholz and von der Leyen propose to create an “inclusive donor platform” that will make it “clearer and more understandable how this money (spent for the reconstruction of Ukraine) will be used.”
As you know, an international conference on the restoration of Ukraine will be held in Germany on October 25. It will be attended by representatives of the partner states of Ukraine, international organizations and experts.
Source: Європейська правда
Photo: EPA/UPG