The almost absurd contrast between the palm trees of Lake Lugano, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino (south), in Switzerland, and the artillery battles in the ravaged cities of Donbass, in Ukraine, will not have escaped this economic adviser Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “This meeting is important for future planning, but it is in no way about implementation, it is premature, says Alexander Rodnyansky. Russia continues to destabilize the country, we have even lost some ground in the Donbass. The greatest contribution would be to win the war. Thus laid down, the framework of this first International Conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine immediately showed its limits: no round table of donors, no diplomatic meeting to bring Moscow and kyiv back to a negotiating table.
For the host of the summit, Ignazio Cassis, current President of the Confederation and Minister for Foreign Affairs, this meeting was also an opportunity to highlight traditional Swiss diplomacy. “good offices”, which has been on the decline in recent years. Switzerland also suffers from its tense relations with certain major countries of the European Union: Paris and Berlin, for example, have only sent delegations to Lugano reduced to their simplest form. It must be said that after two weeks of intense diplomatic marathon in Brussels (European Council under French presidency), in Bavaria (G7) then in Madrid (NATO summit), the Luganese meeting struggled to bring together heads of State and government. Only the Czech prime ministers, Petr Fiala, and Lithuanian, Ingrida Simonyte, had made the trip.
Curb corruption
The Conference nevertheless produced an agreement, called the “Lugano Declaration”, which sets out seven main principles for the future massive financial assistance to Ukraine, when it will be possible to bring it together, to release it – and above all to use it. ; in other words, after the war.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, insisted on the main pitfall to avoid, corruption, endemic in Ukraine since independence. kyiv indeed ranks at a mediocre 122e place (out of 180) in the latest ranking of the corruption perception index of the NGO Transparency International, fourteen places all the same ahead of Moscow. “We have never made an effort on this scale beforesaid M.me Von der Leyen. Future donors will need to know that their money will be spent efficiently and effectively with maximum impact for the people of Ukraine. »
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