Long-term support plan for Ukraine to be presented at Eastern Partnership Summit
A long-term plan of support for Ukraine (the so-called “Marshall Plan for Ukraine”) will be presented at the Eastern Partnership Summit in November, Lithuanian MP Andrius Kubilius told the newspaper Segodnya in an interview.
“We will present the ‘Marshall Plan for Ukraine’ at the Eastern Partnership Summit in November, where, we hope, mention of this document will appear in the final declaration of the summit,” he said.
“We are working towards there being not only a declaration, but also real financial resources. And in this regard we see the possibility of using the resources of the EU External Investment Plan, for which the European Commission envisages as much as €88 billion up to 2020. This money, as the plan states, is directed primarily towards Africa, but quite a large portion could go to other countries,” the Lithuanian MP added.
Kubilius admitted that all the initiatives and suggestions regarding financing sources are still very provisional.
“But I see positive signs in several areas. In the western capitals there is increasingly a rational understanding of what today’s Kremlin and President Putin’s regime are. Nobody can speak up about this, but I see a whole range of small steps which make it possible for me to look optimistically both at the future, and at the specific ‘Marshall Plan for Ukraine’,” he said.
The European People’s Party (EPP) approved a resolution to develop a “Marshall Plan” for Ukraine on March 31, 2017.