Lugano, the first conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine has ended

Promoted by Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs-FDFA and president of the Confederation, initially planned as a peace conference, after the hostilities initiated by Russia against the government of Kiev, the meeting had to change the form, substance, but not the date on the agenda

For the European representatives it coincided with the German G7 summit and the NATO meeting in Madrid, while for the American diplomacy it overlapped the 4th July celebrations.

The attention of the more than 250 accredited journalists, the thousand delegates and 14 international associations, whose representatives nevertheless participated in an advisory capacity, was therefore concentrated on Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission.

The twenty conferences concentrated in the two days in Lugano examined the components that animate the complicated Russian-Ukrainian dossier.

Let's start with the most obvious one.

From a humanitarian perspective, it is undeniable that the Ukrainian population deserves international aid.

However, emotions no longer find space when the Ukrainian dossier is interpreted beyond breaking news.

The Russian attack reminds us that, especially in the last decade, the Moscow government is now an interlocutor that can no longer be Westernized.

Indeed, it is undergoing an involution that sees it turning to China.

This assumption justifies more than a suspicion that Russia is also preparing to attack other neighboring countries, and therefore the defense of Ukraine is necessary, especially in the long term.

But helping a country also means taking on its complexities.

In the case of Ukraine, the need to continue reforms in the fiscal, judicial and governance fields in Lugano have often been mentioned in terms of reconstruction of the country.

Indeed, the impression was given that the Western world is trying to tackle the Russian-Ukrainian conflict no longer with a view to re-balancing globalized economic principles, but rather to stabilize political values.

In other words, the case of the Kiev government seems to confirm this, when in order to respond to a legitimate expectation of solidarity, a military and humanitarian plan is also accompanied by financial intervention, especially the debtor must achieve resilience, a structural stability, which convinces them to to be insensitive to political upheavals and seasonal electoral alternations.

These are the basic elements that have originated and justify not only meetings like the one held in Lugano, but also all the ones to follow.

The first estimates, currently not verifiable, foresee damages of one trillion dollars and the need for long-term investments.

We recall that it took sixty years to repay the loans of the Marshall Plan, launched by the Americans after World War II for the reconstruction of Europe and often mentioned in the speeches of URC 2022.

However, this exercise was possible because the parties shared the same political assumptions.

It is in this perspective of political recovery that the government of Kiev today is not abandoned to its fate but welcomed, albeit with due caution, in the parlor of Western politics, starting with Community politics.

This was confirmed by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union, in her speech at the Palacongressi in Lugano: "the European Union proposes to the government of Kiev to organize a platform for the reconstruction of the country, together with a coordinated verification of activities and investments necessary to channel resources; but this also requires good governance. To Ukraine ”, continued the highest European representative,“ the task of establishing priorities and above all considering the needs of the resident population. The international community and the United States at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos have already confirmed that they are ready to contribute ".

The statements of the community representative were echoed by the conclusions of the landlord, the Swiss president Ignazio Cassis, who completed the work by listing the Lugano Principles, the roadmap for Ukrainian reconstruction: “The government of Kiev has to establish an investment program; their financing is conditional on a reform plan, a transparency of expenses, an improvement in the conditions of the population and an opening of the government of Kiev to the participation of the international economic and academic community, and equally to ensure the involvement of minorities, and respect for environmental needs ".

In summary, an action plan inspired by the principles of Building Back Better launched by the United States.

The 2022 Ukraine Recovery Conference will be followed by a subsequent round of meetings, which the German G7 Presidency will hold in Germany this fall.

Instead, it is up to Great Britain to continue the works in 2023.

In the meantime, with URC2022 the operational team led by Ignazio Cassis has confirmed that the Confederation in the coming years will also be able to secure a leading role at the highest levels of international diplomacy for a solution of the complicated Ukrainian problems.

On the subject, read also here.

The image:
DFA-EDA, Bern - media.