Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) sees the reconstruction of Ukraine after the end of Russia’s war of aggression as a task for the world community that will last decades. “Reconstruction will be a big, big task,” said Scholz in his video podcast published on Saturday before the international expert conference on the reconstruction of the country planned for this Tuesday in Berlin. “We will have to invest a lot to make it work well.” Ukraine and the European Union cannot do this alone. “Only the whole world community, which is now supporting Ukraine, can do that. And they have to do it for a long time.”
It is “important that we not only determine very specifically what needs to be done, where investments need to be made, how the reconstruction can be organized, but that we also think about how many, many years, yes, decades such a reconstruction can also be financed by the international community,” said Scholz. That is why he invited to the conference together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as President of the G7 group of the seven leading democratic economic powers. “It’s about sending a sign of hope, in the midst of the horror of war, that things are looking up again.”
Germany currently chairs the G7 group, which also includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the US and the UK.
This Monday, a German-Ukrainian economic forum in Berlin with top representatives from both countries will focus on the reconstruction of Ukraine. The conference is to be opened by Scholz and the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is also expected. Several ministers from the Ukraine will travel to Berlin or connect online, as the organizers announced.
