BERLIN, Oct. 24 (DPA/EP) –
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have called this Sunday for a strategy like the ‘Marshall Plan’ to rebuild Ukraine.
“The form of reconstruction will determine which country Ukraine will be in the future. A constitutional state with strong institutions? A nimble, modern economy? A vigorous democracy that belongs to Europe? While one should always be careful with historical comparisons, here it is about nothing less than creating a new Marshall Plan”, the European leaders have assured.
The statements by Scholz and Von der Leyen are included in an article published this Sunday in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, on the occasion of a German-Ukrainian business forum focused on reconstruction efforts that is being held this Monday in Berlin.
“Even if peace still seems a long way off for Ukraine, reconstruction must be considered now,” the Commission president and the German chancellor considered.
The German president will open the meeting together with his Ukrainian counterpart, Denis Shmihal. “There we want to discuss with experts how the international community can better help and support Ukraine in its reconstruction,” reads the text.
These talks will be followed on Tuesday by a conference of experts organized by the European Commission and by Germany, current president of the Group of Seven (G7).
Europe has a special role to play in supporting Ukraine because the country is a candidate for EU membership, Scholz and Von der Leyen wrote: “The path of reconstruction is therefore also Ukraine’s path to the European Union. European”.
“Ukraine is also upholding the rules-based international order, the foundation of our peaceful coexistence and prosperity around the world. Therefore, when we support Ukraine, we are building our future and that of our common Europe,” he said.
This summer, Scholz already called for a “Marshall Plan” to help kyiv recover from the war, acknowledging that the reconstruction of the country would be “a task of several generations”.
“We will need many more billions of euros and dollars for reconstruction and it will take years,” Scholz said in June, hoping to enlist donor countries and international financial institutions, among other actors, in this cause.
Through the Marshall Plan, the United States financed the reconstruction of European countries after World War II with billions of dollars between 1948 and 1952.
