“The first thing is you are not alone. There is a war, there will be a cost of reconstruction afterwards--and we have to do this together.”
So began Luxembourg prime minister’s address to Ukrainians amid the international audience during Tuesday morning’s Rapid Recovery of Ukraine event. The prime minister (DP) added that the Ukrainian flag, which has been flying outside his office for almost a year, reminded him of the continuing war, with people being injured or dying as “civilian infrastructure is being targeted, and managed drones are destroying homes and killing people.”
As many speakers reminded the audience, the forum--a first of its kind for Luxembourg--marked day 342 since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal (speaking via videoconference) was among those to personally thank Luxembourg for its solidarity. The World Bank, European Commission and Ukraine, he explained, as of June 2022 estimated losses at $350bn, but another assessment is underway. “In the near future, the amount of losses may exceed $600-$750bn,” he added. “However, when we talk about recovery, we are not only thinking about the distant future; construction should begin right now.”
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal addressed the audience via videoconferencing, 31 January 2023. Photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne
Shmyhal said Ukraine expected to receive $17bn from its partners for rapid recovery; to ensure a systematic approach to rapid recovery, it has partnered with IFIs and partner countries. The Ukrainian prime minister also outlined the five priorities for Ukraine’s recovery: energy, housing (destruction was estimated at $54bn by end-2022), de-mining efforts, critical and social infrastructure and .
After Bettel’s speech, Bilopallia mayor Yuriy Zarko presented a piece of Russian missile fragment with a #StandwithUkraine engraving on it.
Pathway to EU integration
The European Investment Bank has a long history of cooperation with Ukraine, one which started over two decades ago and intensified during the invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Since the war in Ukraine began, the EIB has dispursed more than €1.7bn to help support critical needs in the country.
As EIB president pointed out, “2014 was a defining moment for us, because in 2014 we decided that we would move out of Russia very, very important programme partnerships for modernisation. If you look at the competitiveness of Russian industry, you see today that would have been a valuable programme.”
Chamber of Commerce president spoke of the similarity between the Marshall Plan post-World War II and the potential of building commercial bridges. “I say this in the presence of the US ambassador to Luxembourg [, who was in the audience]… they liberated us, and gave us financial means, gave us know-how and cooperated with us in the framework of the Marshall Plan. And that’s what we need to do also now with Ukraine. We need a strong partnership.”
Several speakers also noted the importance of laying strong foundations for Ukraine’s EU integration.
Gabriel Blanc of the European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG Near), European Commission, said a lot of “impressive” reform work in underway Ukraine with the appointment of a new head for the anti-corruption prosecutor, reform of judicial governance bodies and anti-money laundering work.
“At a time when Ukraine is fighting a war to see such a dedication to develop and implement EU integration related reforms. It demonstrates the commitment of Ukraine or its European path. It's also an illustration of the transport transformative power of the EU enlargement process.”
This is an important week to further the conversation: on Thursday, there will be a first meeting of the college of commissioners of the EU commission and the government of Ukraine. And on Friday, there will be an EU-Ukraine summit, during which new initiatives will be worked on to further deepen Ukraine’s integration.