Sandu - EU needs "Marshall plan" for Moldova, Ukraine
The EU should develop an "equivalent" version of the World War 2-era U.S. Marshall Plan to finance development projects in Moldova and Ukraine.
This was stated on Monday, April 29, by the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, who spoke at the annual EU budget conference in Brussels, Ukrinform reports referring to Euroactiv.
"Just as Western Europe was offered an economic lifeline after the Second World War by the American Marshall Plan, Moldova and Ukraine need a tightly focused 21st-century equivalent from the European Union," Sandu said.
She added that the Marshall Plan was designed to show " an exhausted continent that capitalism and democracy were a better way forward than anything offered by Communism," and the modern version of the plan should give "similar hope to those of us working our way towards EU membership."
During her address, Sandu repeatedly emphasized that the bloc's budget should not only finance critical green, digital and infrastructure projects, but also be aimed at "protecting values" that are under threat from "forces with a dark vision" for the European continent.
"We also need to invest in saving lives, bringing back peace, and defending liberty at key moments in history," the Moldovan leader added.
At the same time, the president of Moldova expressed optimism about Europe's ability to face the security challenges caused by Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
"Europe has always stepped up and found the resources to help because we Europeans believe that the expansion of evil can be stopped only through the enlargement of goodness," she said.
Sandu's call echoes similar appeals regarding the "Marshall Plan" for Ukraine, made last year both by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and by a number of EU member states, the report notes.
Signed by former U.S. President Harry Truman in 1948, the Marshall Plan, named after then-Secretary of State George Marshall, provided billions of dollars in economic aid to European nations devastated by World War 2.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that the reconstruction of Ukraine will become the "Marshall Plan of the 21st century." German MPs also called to support Ukraine via the "Marshall Plan".
Also, former Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, looked into the possibility of creating a new organization that would help support and rebuild the war-torn nation.