Ukrainian local leaders believe EU cities and regions could help Ukraine's reconstruction efforts even before the war with Russia ends.
Ukrainian local leaders have voiced strong support for the involvement of European cities and regions in the reconstruction of Ukraine. They have also urged them to help with rebuilding key infrastructure even while the war continues, highlighting that the war has also brought destruction to parts of the country far from the current lines of contact between Ukrainian and Russian troops.
Their call for swift action, which was backed by a leading representative
of the incoming Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union, came
at a meeting organised by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR),
whose president on
18 May
said there was a need for "an Alliance to provide Ukraine’s regional and
local authorities with the practical support that they will need over the
coming years to rebuild Ukraine in Europe". Ukraine's President Volodmyr
Zelenskyy on 29 April asked EU regions and cities to establish twinning
agreements with Ukrainian counterparts, a suggestion then taken up by the
president of the European Council, and by the president of the European
Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The European Commission on 18 May
presented a
communication
setting out the direction of reconstruction work, proposing that EU cities
and regions could play a role through peer-to-peer partnerships.
Sergyi Chernov
, member of Kharkiv Regional Council and President of the Ukrainian
Association of Regional and District Councils, said "we need to start
re-building quickly", starting with "the regions now liberated" and to
ensure basic supplies – such as water and electricity – are assured before
winter. An alliance of cities and regions could be a "very efficient tool
of cross-border cooperation", he said.
Oleksandr Slobozhan
, executive director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, said Ukraine
would "need to incorporate the best international expertise", adding: "We
cannot allow ourselves to rebuild with a Soviet approach". Current figures
provided by Mr Slobozhan suggest that 68,585 facilities have been destroyed
or damaged, including 1,835 education institutions, 616 medical
institutions, and 330 bridges.
Similar comments were made by the Ukrainian government and Ukraine's
ambassador to the European Union. Anatolii Kutsevol,
Deputy State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, said that
"cities and regions in Europe are best placed to understand the needs" of
Ukrainian municipalities, while Ivan Lukeria, Deputy
Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, said that
the government was "collecting needs as well as practices in urban policy
from across the EU". "European regions and cities can assist in rebuilding
communities right now," he said.
Ambassador Vsevolod Chentsov emphasised the need for swift
action. "We think that the so-called 'small reconstruction' of the areas
that have already been liberated should start without delay," he said,
citing the situation of Irpin, a municipality close to Kyiv, where 3,000
buildings had been destroyed or damaged, 4,000 families had completely lost
their homes, and 95% of "communal equipment" was destroyed.
There was also a call for early action from Jaroslav Kurfürst, the Czech Republic's special envoy for
the Eastern Partnership. "I believe we cannot wait until the end of the
war, because the war may be long and rebuilding should be started earlier,"
he said. He also highlighted the potential for action by cities, saying
that there are "examples of good cooperation already in place" and that
"some Czech cities have fantastic programmes".
The meeting of the CoR's
Working Group on Ukraine
was chaired by
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz
, mayor of Gdańsk, a city that is a leading example of city partnerships,
including with the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol, Odessa and Lviv.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas
(EL/EPP), President of the CoR and Governor of Central Macedonia, said:
"Over the coming weeks, we need: to pool the good will of all European
stakeholders; Ukraine's local and regional authorities need to map needs;
cities and regions of the EU need to have access to a dedicated facility
and gather available funds; to tap European know-how; and to convene within
the CoR a conference to match up what is needed with what is available."
He continued: "The time has now come to start working together to build the
future of Ukraine in Europe, from the bottom up."
Katarína Mathernová
, head of the European Commission's Support Group for Ukraine, described
city-to-city and region-to-region support as "absolutely critical" and
praised the transformation in local government in Ukraine over the past
eight years. Decentralisation reforms has been "visionary" and "the success
of decentralisation is one of the cornerstones of the resilience" of
Ukraine. Decentralisation reform has been heavily supported by the European
Commission's
U-LEAD with Europe
programme. The activities of the programme were repurposed after the
invasion on 24 February, to help meet the emergency needs of local
communities in all 24 regions of Ukraine.
Roderick Parkes
of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) said the idea of
reconstruction beginning only after the war assumes that there is a clear
ending. "I think we need to move faster and to expect a contested
environment. There will be an ongoing conflict," he said, adding that "for
European cities to move into highly contested areas" would be "new".
Other speakers at the meeting included: Richard Tibbels of
the European External Action Service (EEAS); Jean-Erik De Zagon, head of the European Investment Bank's
representation for Ukraine; Bastian Veigel of the ULEAD for Europe programme; Dorothée Allain-Dupré of the OECD Centre for
Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities; and Janez Šušteršič of the consultancy RE-FORMA.
The meeting of the Working Group on Ukraine, held on 23 May in the European
Committee of the Regions and online, can be
re-watched here.
Contact:
Andrew Gardner
andrew.gardner@cor.europa.eu
+32 473 843 981