President of the European Council Charles Michel
President of the European Council, Charles Michel, believes that the donor conference, which will take place in Warsaw on May 5, will be the starting point for the European "Marshall Plan" for Ukraine. He said that in an interview for Interfax-Ukraine.
"This conference should be, in my opinion, the starting point for some kind of "European Marshall Plan" for Ukraine. We must signal clearly that we will support Ukraine as much as we can," Michel said.
"Today the far-sighted leaders must emphasize that we will be courageous and firm in order to support Ukraine not only with words. We need solutions, we need money, we need strong coordination and a political will," Michel added.
He recalled that the idea of a trust fund was expressed by President Volodymyr Zelensky a few weeks before.
Michel named three priorities where the trust fund can be directed:
- humanitarian aid;
- liquidity: "It is important to help Ukraine as much as possible with budgets, grants and loans. The trust fund can also serve as a strong signal of confidence, trust and also enable the government to manage the country;
- country restoration.
According to Michel, the trust fund should be activated "quickly".
Speaking about the restoration of Ukraine, Michel noted that "the goal is to build a modern, prosperous, future-oriented Ukraine. This implies, for example, building of infrastructure for future needs, like climate change, digital transformation of the world and the challenges that the EU, as well as the whole world, faces."