Talk about a Marshall Plan for Ukraine has already become popular. It usually starts with figuring out the cost of rebuilding Ukraine after the Russian invasion.. Amounts range from $250 billion to $1 trillion. It all depends on the scale of destruction, the amount of assistance to refugees, and the like..

The total cost of the original post-war Marshall Plan is then compared to US GDP in 1948 when the program was launched.. Usually, discussions end with the conclusion that the cost of rebuilding Ukraine, relative to the size of donor countries, will be at the same level as in the post-World War II era, writes The Guardian. However, such comparisons are not really the best way to use the history of the Marshall Plan.. It is impossible to accurately determine the cost of reconstruction when no one can say how long the war will last and what territory the legitimate government of Ukraine will control. The fact that the United States was ready to give Europe after World War II about 5% of its GDP for 1948 over a four-year period does not mean that exactly the money that will be needed in the Ukrainian case.

However, other aspects of history may better serve the current situation.. For example, Marshall Plan payments began even though fighting in Europe was still going on.. The Greek Civil War continued until the summer of 1949.. But Athens received help from the American reconstruction plan as early as 1948.. In fact, the Greek side received $300 million even earlier, in 1947, under the auspices of the American Relief Mission for Greece.. The structure of this organization became the prototype for the Marshall Plan.

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Similarly, Ukraine can already receive assistance within reasonable limits.. After all, it makes no sense to build bridges that Russia will destroy again anyway.. It should also be remembered that the Marshall Plan fund was 90% grants and only 10% loans.. Today there are calls for Western states to act as guarantors of new Ukrainian bonds. This way you can reduce the costs of the Ukrainian government on servicing loans and raise money for recovery.. But it will also increase Ukraine's already large debt burden.. So this way to make the process of Ukrainian reconstruction cheaper for the West will not work..

Also after World War II, the United States created a special independent agency to manage the Marshall Plan fund.. Without the bureaucracy of the State Department, the Economic Cooperation Administration, and the US Treasury, the program was able to move quickly.. She had no problem attracting private sector experts. And Paul Goffman, president of the Studebaker automobile company, became the head of the agency for managing the Marshall Plan.. It also avoided conflicts with the UN, where the USSR had enough power to create problems..

Aid to Ukraine should also be managed by an autonomous agency accountable only to donor governments.. It will be able to consult or coordinate with the IMF and the World Bank. But at the same time, the special agency must maintain its independence, given that Russia is a member of both international organizations.. The architects of the Marshall Plan recognized the need for aid recipients to have ownership of incoming funds.. However, they also adhered to the principle of " European governments presented detailed plans for what they were going to spend American money on.. I had to conduct painstaking negotiations with the Economic Cooperation Administration in the United States. In the case of some countries, such as Greece, there were concerns about corruption. Therefore, the Economic Cooperation Administration had hundreds of agents in various Greek ministries. Governance reforms were a prerequisite for receiving Marshall Plan assistance.

Of course, for Ukraine, external intervention in the restoration will be sensitive. And it can be understood. But foreign oversight is the price of foreign aid, especially given the scale of what Ukraine needs.. Kyiv can boost confidence by increasing transparency of its spending. This can be done, for example, through the ProZorro public procurement program. The Marshall Plan prioritized restoring export opportunities. He recognized the positive effects of international competition and the political benefits of European integration.. Ukraine's path to EU membership likely to be long. But it can be reduced if Western aid is structured in such a way as to align Ukrainian institutions and policies with those in force in the EU..

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And finally, the Marshall Plan allowed Europe to make a powerful technological leap. Prior to World War II, the continent lagged behind the United States by decades in terms of shifting to fast and efficient manufacturing technologies.. And it was these technologies that became the basis of the golden times of the post-war recovery.. European officials, plant managers and labor leaders traveled to the US and returned with new knowledge that helped improve productivity. Ukraine now also has the opportunity to make a technological leap by switching to a green energy system, modernizing its transport and communications infrastructure, and updating urban planning.. All this, of course, is a task for Ukrainians.. But the West can and should help them.