The unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, which violates international law, global security and stability, has forced millions of Ukrainians to leave their homes with just backpacks. Millions of people have fled major Ukrainian cities, arriving in host countries including Malta, with their lives shattered as everything they had was destroyed.
According to the World Bank, Ukraine’s economy is set to shrink by almost half this year as a result of the war. The invasion by the Russian military will cause more economic damage across eastern Europe and parts of Asia than the coronavirus pandemic. The conflict in Ukraine has shut half of the country’s businesses and slashed exports.
There is a lot that can be done at both humanitarian and military level. The EU has deployed all its might to assist the aggressed country while continuing to push for a diplomatic solution. At unprecedented speed, the EU has adopted successive waves of sanction packages, unseen in the Union’s history, hitting Russia’s financial system, its high-tech industries and its corrupt elite.
Yet, it is important to start thinking about how the EU and the international community can give hope to Ukrainians and reassure them that they will be able to rebuild their country and return to ‘normal life’. The first step is to grant Ukraine candidate status of the EU. In this regard, the European Economic and Social Committee expressed its unequivocal support for the granting of such a status and this has now been confirmed by the European Council.
This is a strong political signal that Ukraine’s future lies firmly with Europe. There is no better way to fight external threats than through unity, solidarity and building on democratic projects that have our values at the core. Organised civil society through the EESC and EU leaders meeting in Brussels a few days ago did not shy away of their responsibility.
Beyond this political signal, immediate European and international financial assistance is needed to prevent the Ukrainian economy from total destruction. Along with a €9 billion increase in short-term budgetary aid to the Ukrainian government, the European Commission has proposed setting up a reconstruction platform to help with the massive financing needs of rebuilding the country.
Both the commission and parliament are also proposing a temporary lifting of tariffs and quotas for all Ukrainian imports, to help counter the “negative economic impact” of Russia’s invasion. The suspension of import duties comes on top of tariff reductions earlier agreed to in the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine.
Peace has a price but it is always a price worth paying- Stefano Mallia
These are welcome steps. We must facilitate as much as possible the conditions to enable the country to maintain its trade position with the rest of the world and further deepen its trade relations with the EU. Measures to facilitate overland logistics to boost exports and increase the degree of market liberalisation would add flexibility and certainty for Ukrainian producers.
Financial support must be provided to support SMEs, Ukrainian farmers for the next harvest and Ukrainian civil society, including employers’ organisations and trade unions, with a view to keeping them fully operational in times of war.
At the same time, the EU economy has the capacity to absorb the influx of people from Ukraine if the resettlement is managed properly. European labour ministers must work closely with employers, civil society, recruiters and job matching services to ensure that skilled workers are quickly placed.
Employers from all over Europe are doing their best to support Ukrainians. I am proud that our members and their organisations have hosted refugees, shipped important medical and daily life goods to Ukraine and collected donations.
We met with Ukrainian employers’ representatives in March and in May and we are in close contact with them. Their call continues to be clear. Stop all business with Russia as “every euro paid to Russia funds Putin’s war crimes and ends innocent civilians’ lives. The faster we cut these links, the more lives we will save”, they told us.
The EU must not be drawn into Ukraine fatigue, rather it has to continue to do whatever it takes to free itself from Russian fossil fuels.
The war in Ukraine and the pandemic cannot put the Green Deal on the back-burner but more flexibility is needed and – more than ever – the EU needs to focus on its strategic autonomy. Companies cannot thrive in Europe without the certainty of having access to affordable energy and rare earth and critical raw materials. Solutions exist but we need to implement them now, without delay.
The price to pay will not be cheap but, as history has shown us, peace has a price but it is always a price worth paying.
Stefano Mallia is the president of the Employers’ Group in the European Economic and Social Committee.