Europe is to create a 500-million-euro fund to help rebuild Ukraine

At the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, which US president Joe Biden will also be attending, the leaders of the 27 member states will discuss the creation of a fund to help rebuild Ukraine when the war with Russia comes to an end, according to a draft document prepared in Brussels ahead of the meeting. This says the fund would be ‘fiduciary’; in other words, the payments will be agreed between the two parties involved, the EU and the government in Kyiv.

The head of EU foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, has referred in recent days to the destruction caused by Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine, saying that “he wants to turn it into the Syria of Europe,” and describing the Russian attacks on Mariupol as “a massive war crime”.

The leaders of the 27 EU countries have promised the Ukrainian government support for its immediate needs, and said that once the Russian attack is over, Europe would also provide support “for the reconstruction of a democratic Ukraine”.

Last Friday the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, mentioned the possibility of creating a fund of this type in a phone conversation with Ukraine’s president Volodimir Zelenski. The idea is for the economic package to serve as a “backbone” for the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war.

Earlier this month the vice-president of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, also said the EU will be at Ukraine’s side to rebuild the country after its victory over the Russian invasion. “We will open our arms to Ukraine in our common home of peace, democracy and prosperity, called Europe,” he said.

While there is no ceasefire, the EU has committed more support to Kyiv. In addition to an initial fund of 500 million euros to buy weapons and first aid materials, there will soon be a second fund for the same amount.

The leaders’ summit this week will also debate a possible fifth package of sanctions on Russia, including a veto on gas and oil imports. However, the idea does not have unanimous support. Countries such as Germany and Hungary are against energy sanctions on Moscow because they depend so much on supplies from Russia.

It is for this reason that the draft text barely gives any details about future penalties on Russia. It only says the EU is ready to move rapidly with more coordinated sanctions against Russia and Belarus, which Brussels considers an accomplice to the aggression against Ukraine.