Czech president suggests developing a Marshall Plan for Ukraine

An analog of the Marshall Plan for Ukraine would be a good idea. Czech President Petr Pavel said this on February 15 at the Munich Security Conference.

"It seems to me that developing a plan for Ukraine similar to the Marshall Plan would be a great idea," Pavel said, his speech was broadcast on the conference website.

He pointed out that Ukraine's partners are already providing it with military support, but it would be good to start working on rebuilding the country after the conflict is over. The Czech president said that a treaty on the peaceful resolution of the crisis should be fair for Kiev. In addition, security guarantees, such as Ukraine's accession to the European Union (EU), should also be worked out.

The Marshall Plan was called a set of measures of assistance that the U.S. provided to Europe after the Second World War, reports "Gazeta.Ru". The support received its name in honor of the name of its author - the American Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who held this post in 1947-1949.

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on February 15 that Europe needs its own action plan on Ukraine, otherwise the future of the EU will be decided by other global players, not necessarily in its interests.

On the same day, the Russian permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that the need for the participation of European countries in the negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement was doubtful. In addition, the EU states as Kiev's allies "discussed various 'peace formulas' without Moscow's participation, and it was a shoddy and meaningless show."

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on the EU to start engaging in discussions and presenting concrete proposals for the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, for example, on security guarantees. This should be done instead of complaining about the possible absence of Europe at the negotiating table, he added.