Lugano and the Question of Reconstructing Ukraine – Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball

Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, brought to you by Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow of Friends of Europe and former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General, provides a weekly overview of the current and emerging crises or threats in security and defence.

Using his past experience as an ex-NATO insider, his in-depth knowledge and insights gained throughout the years, Jamie casts his eye on the state of geopolitics in Europe and across the globe. He brings an independent view and essential insight into a range of conflicts and emerging threats on our shores and further afield.

Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball is essential viewing for anyone who wants to keep track of events as they unfold.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, speaks about last week’s Ukraine Recovery Conference which took place in Lugano, Switzerland. In view of the ongoing war and the increasing deconstruction, it is debatable whether the reconstruction of Ukraine should be thought about currently. Nonetheless, developing plans for post-war reconstruction may help states and international institutions to calculate the amount needed to rebuild the country later. In Lugano, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal asked for $750bn from the international community to fund the reconstruction, with President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, responding that the EU could provide up to $500bn. Shea questions the feasibility of Ukraine’s demand that, in the long-term, Russia will pay the reparations bill, discussing the option and consequences of confiscating Russian assets abroad. He furthermore sheds light on the issue of corruption in Ukraine and possible solutions to tackle it as well as the potential of greening Ukraine’s economy as a component of Ukraine’s reconstruction. Finally, Shea ends by highlighting that these solutions will only be realistic once a durable end of the war has been achieved.