Rebuilding Ukraine will cost at least 750 billion dollars and it will be “the common task of the whole democratic world”said the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and its Prime Minister, Denys Chmygal, Monday, July 4. The two men spoke – the first remotely and the second on the spot – at an international conference devoted to the future of the country, organized in Lugano (Switzerland) in the presence of officials from allied countries of kyiv and many international institutions, as well as representatives of the private sector.
“[La reconstruction de l’Ukraine est] the most important contribution to world peace.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraineat the conference in Lugano (Switzerland)
“Who should pay for the reconstruction plan, which is already estimated at 750 billion dollars?” wondered Dionysius Chmygal, before providing the answer himself: a “key source” of financing should be the seizure of assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs frozen under international sanctions against Moscow, in an attempt to stop the fighting. According to the prime minister, estimates of the amount of frozen assets range from $300 billion to $500 billion.
The Ukrainian government’s reconstruction plan has three stages: the urgency is first to help the population affected by the war and then to finance thousands of reconstruction projects. In the long term, finally, we must prepare a European, green and digital Ukraine, explained the Prime Minister.
Corruption in the country on the agenda
The Swiss President, Ignazio Cassis, considered that reconstruction and reforms were not “not in competition”. And that kyiv should continue, despite the war, its efforts against corruption and to guarantee the functioning of justice. The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, whose country has just taken over the presidency of the EU, as well as his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, were also present to draw up the outline of a kind of “Marshall Plan”. This American economic program had made it possible to raise Western Europe from the ruins of the Second World War.
The conference had been planned long before the war and was initially to focus on reforms in Ukraine, including the fight against endemic corruption. In its 2021 report, the NGO Transparency International ranks this country 122nd out of 180. This is better than in 2014 (142nd), and better than Russia (136th), but still very far behind its EU neighbors (the worst placed, Bulgaria, is in 78th place).
The subject of corruption was highlighted by the speakers from the outset because of the sums involved and the risks of embezzlement. Lugano is not intended to be a conference of donors – where everyone announces the amount of their “cheque” – but must rather define the principles and priorities of a reconstruction process. The Conference is due to end on Tuesday with the adoption of the Lugano principles intended to guide a colossal effort that could last several decades, according to a Swiss diplomat.