Viktor ZALIZNIUK, сounsel, attorney
The war is not over yet, and the people, in unison with the authorities, are already rebuilding the country. This is a unique phenomenon for the world that while the misanthropic horde is still destroying houses, schools, parks and hospitals in Kharkiv, windows are already being glassed and bridges are being built in Bucha, tortured by Russian inhumans. The entire state apparatus is actively working on compensation programs for the damage caused, the diplomatic corps being led by the Head of State, is uniting the world to help Ukraine.
If we divide the stages of the country’s recovery into conditional 10 steps, then, from my point of view, they should look as follows:
- First of all, it is necessary to evaluate and to record losses at the state level. To do this, it is important to establish respective registers of losses or a unified register with appropriate subregisters. Today, there are a number of Internet resources and platforms administered by the authorities and non-governmental organizations, which record crimes and damages caused by Russian Federation to our state and people. However, we are not talking about recording as a fact, but about entering data into the state register, which is a sufficient basis for the payment of compensation or another way of reinstating the violated property rights.
- To determine the approaches and draw up specific plans for the reconstruction of the state, it is necessary to make a certain ranged inventory of losses depending on the type of object (asset), the purpose of the form of ownership, etc.
- According to the results of the inventory, it is advisable to determine the types and means of reconstruction: private property of citizens (above all housings), state and municipal property, including critical infrastructure objects, military objects, real estate objects and assets belonging to private businesses and indirect losses.
- Having put everything “on the shelves”, it is necessary to move on to a rather complicated issue from an organizational and even a moral point of view, in particular, to priorities and sequences. Each of us in this matter is worthy of presenting endless and convincing arguments in favor of each priority and each queue. But each of us understands that the general priority is no priorities. Therefore, it is necessary to apply scientific and social approaches in this matter. It is quite clear what a tragedy it is for a family from which a Russian scoundrel took the roof over their head and, at the same time, building materials for the restoration of this roof has to be transported across a bridge that also needs restoration, and the car that is to deliver it must be provided with fuel, which, in its turn, has to be delivered by the entrepreneur. Therefore, in this matter, everything is interdependent, and priority and sequence should not be built according to the principle of exclusivity, but based on parallelism, when all areas of normal life activities of the state are rebuilt proportionally and simultaneously.
- Next, a sequence should be formed and a comprehensive plan for the reconstruction of Ukraine should be drawn up.
- This step as well as the next one relate to the material and supply support of all measures for the post-war reconstruction of the country, so they should begin synchronously with the first steps, which are already being implemented. So, first of all, it is necessary to carry out a search, forcible seizure of assets of Russian Federation, its residents in Ukraine, and to ensure the recovery of damages/losses, which are necessary for reconstruction.
- It is much more difficult for the state to enforce recovery on property and assets of Russian Federation and its residents that have been frozen, confiscated, seized, or encumbered in any other way abroad. Solving this issue is possible through political, legal and diplomatic means, which include the adoption of special legislative acts by partner countries and the implementation of legal institutes of international law that were unprecedented in pre-war times.
- At the same time, it is reasonable to improve and revise the current legislation of Ukraine, both at the level of laws and enactments in order to avoid unnecessary bureaucratic procedures and inappropriate formalism, because it is all about human life and the fate of the state.
- Every practical step to reconstruction should be done with continuous modernization and introducing of rational approaches. For example, when restoring the infrastructure destroyed by Russia, one should not reproduce the slovenly counter-effective Soviet approaches, but should focus on energy-efficient technologies, modern equipment and materials that will allow providing people with high-quality public services at the lowest possible costs.
- The tenth and final step should be comprehensive, aimed not only at the post-war reconstruction of the country, but also at its dignified future. Such a development and reconstruction plan has already been developed by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and made public by the First Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Y. Svyridenko.
I will briefly reproduce the key principles of this governmental plan:
- Obtaining full access to the markets of the G7 countries and the European Union through the cancellation of all quotas and import duties for Ukrainian goods.
- Obtaining full membership in the European Union in 2024.
- Deregulation and minimal state intervention in business activities.
- Expansion of road crossings and checkpoints in the direction of the European Union, increase of railway logistics through dry ports and narrow gauge railways transshipment nodes.
- Prioritizing the export of finished (produced) products/goods of the metallurgical and agricultural industries, rather than raw materials.
- Formation of a powerful military-industrial complex with the involvement of advanced IT technologies (military-tech).
- Increasing energy capacities, including through the construction of new nuclear units.
- Self-sufficiency with self-mined gas by means of increasing its mining and production, as well as by implementing a thermal modernization program to achieve energy independence.
- Climatic modernization.
- Involvement of Ukrainians in reconstruction as a priority, and maximum use of domestic resources.