(Berlin) The reconstruction of Ukraine is the “mission of a generation, which must begin now”, urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday at an international conference whose participants reaffirmed their long-term support for the country attacked by Russia.
Updated yesterday at 9:04 p.m.
Ukraine can count on the support of the international community for decades to repair its infrastructure, assured the German leader.
It is about “creating a new Marshall Plan for the 21ste century”, he launched during this conference in Berlin bringing together political leaders and experts.
Rebuilding Ukraine is “a challenge for generations”, he continued, but also a chance to modernize its roads, bridges, hospitals and means of transport.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also present, considered “staggering” the extent of the destruction since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
“The World Bank estimates the cost of the damage at 350 billion euros (475 million Canadian dollars) – this is certainly more than a country or a union can provide alone. We need everyone on deck,” she said.
Don’t wait
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who made a speech broadcast by video, called for support from the international community to allow the country to balance its budget next year.
“At this conference, we have to make a decision to close the deficit hole in Ukraine’s budget next year,” he said. “It is a very large sum of 38 billion dollars […]it is the salaries of teachers, doctors, it is social benefits, pensions, ”he insisted.
“We cannot wait for the end of the war to start reconstruction. It is clear that we must start immediately,” added Ukrainian Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Chernyshov.
“We should build a country capable of attracting private investment […]to work with financial institutions and to repay debts,” he added.
“The later we start, the higher the bill will be,” warned Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank.
“Now is where the energy is needed. It is now that basic services for the population must be provided. Now is the time for transport links to work or be restored. And it is now that companies working in unimaginable conditions must be supported,” he said.
“Europe must prove its strength”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, present at the conference, insisted on the urgent need for money “to help us get through the winter and save people from a humanitarian disaster”.
Dealing with this crisis would also make it possible to “save the European continent […] of a migratory tsunami”, he said, while millions of people, especially women and children, have already fled Ukraine to find refuge in countries of the European Union, in particular in Poland and in Germany.
Also present at the conference, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urged Europeans to stand up to Russia.
“The policy of appeasement against Russia is a failure and all those who still try to implement it are dragging Europe down,” he warned. “Europe is much stronger than Russia, but the fact that it hasn’t been able to stop Putin so far proves that it is in some way a paper tiger,” he continued. .
And to warn Europeans: “The world only deals with strong players”. “Europe must prove its strength,” he said.
Biden and Sunak pledge support for Kyiv
US President Joe Biden and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stressed the need to ‘support Ukraine’ and cooperate in the face of ‘challenges posed by China’ in their first phone call, the White House said on Tuesday. .
Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak “agreed on the importance of working together to support Ukraine and to hold Russia accountable for its aggression, to confront the challenges posed by China, and to secure sustainable and affordable energy resources “, underlines the American executive in a press release.
The two leaders “also discussed their shared commitment to protecting the gains of the Good Friday Agreement” in Northern Ireland, and the “need to reach a negotiated agreement with the European Union on the Northern Irish Protocol”. , which specifies the post-Brexit provisions in this British province.
The “Good Friday” agreement in 1998 put an end to three decades of conflict between Unionists, especially Protestants, and mainly Catholic Republicans in favor of reunification with the Republic of Ireland.