While the war is still raging, Europe is already thinking about the next blow: the reconstruction of Ukraine. An international conference is taking place on December 13 and 14 in Paris to discuss the support that its allies will have to provide to Ukraine to put the country back on its feet. Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to drop bombs on the country’s infrastructure, causing widespread power cuts that affect millions of people in the middle of winter.
The conference will take place in two distinct parts. Tuesday, “a first, international, to meet the needs of Ukraine to spend the winter”, explains Emmanuel Macron on Twitter. According to the Elysée, “heads of state, heads of government, ministers” from 47 countries, as well as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, will participate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak by video, while his Prime Minister and a large part of his government will be present.
Costing the reconstruction of the country
During this first day, the goal will be “to expose [auprès de la communauté internationale] Ukraine’s needs to ensure its economic resilience in times of war and its reconstruction in the medium term”, according to the terms of the Ministry of Economy. But also, more concretely, to quantify the cost of rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. For now, the estimate hovers between $350 billion, according to the Central Bank, and $750 billion, according to kyiv. In the immediate future, Volodymyr Zelensky is asking the international community for support of 38 billion to continue financing salaries (in particular of teachers and doctors), as well as social benefits and pensions.
The second part of the conference, Wednesday, will be “with French companies which are committed to the reconstruction of the country”, also indicates the French president. About 500 tricolor companies will be brought together “to meet the critical needs of Ukraine, contribute to the reconstruction of the country and invest in the long term in the potential of the Ukrainian economy”, specified the Elysée. The objective of this early consultation with French companies – while no major reconstruction plan has yet been announced – is to “promote the mobilization of French economic players on these two essential issues”, according to the terms of the Ministry of Economy.
The conference will be hosted by Bruno Le Maire at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial Sovereignty. Workshops will take place by sector: infrastructure, energy, agriculture, digital, innovation, health… And this in order to “allow a direct dialogue between the Ukrainian ministers present and French companies on the strategic needs of resilience and reconstruction of Ukraine. “.
Moving towards an end to the conflict
To prepare for the conference, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke in turn on Sunday with Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron. The French president, as well as several officials of the American General Staff, have been talking for several months now about the imminent need for Ukraine to enter into negotiations with Russia, in order to find a way out of the conflict. This conference comes in particular after the remarks of Emmanuel Macron who underlined, at the beginning of December, that it would be necessary to give “guarantees” to Russia to find a good balance, once the war in Ukraine is over.
On Twitter this Monday, December 12, the Ukrainian president indicated that during his call with Emmanuel Macron, the two counterparts “synchronized their position” before this conference, and in particular “discussed the implementation of our ten-point peace plan , defense cooperation and energy stability”, which had been proposed in mid-November. This requires guarantees on territorial integrity and the fate of prisoners, as well as on food security in Ukraine. Condition sine qua non posed by the Head of State: Russia must “reaffirm the territorial integrity of Ukraine within the framework of UN resolutions and legally binding documents”, and “withdraw all its troops and formations from the territory of the Ukraine”.
Conditions far from being accepted by the Kremlin, which in September launched the annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts and promised by a reform of its constitution to “sanctuarize” them and to defend them forever as Russian territories. Nevertheless, last Friday, Vladimir Putin also affirmed that an agreement would be necessary “in the end” to put an end to the conflict, while expressing doubts about the “trust” that Moscow can according to him grant to its interlocutors.
While a virtual G7 summit is taking place on Monday to discuss the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a discussion is still expected “soon” between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron to discuss security issues, particularly around nuclear civil.