Davos looks at Ukraine

The meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos has had Ukraine as the almost absolute protagonist of this extraordinary spring meeting.

It has been so not only because of the activity displayed by the Ukrainian participants, including Volodymyr Zelensky, to remember the tragedy that the country is experiencing, but also because of the consequences that the war is having for the world economy and those that may come in the coming months. .

The purely European approach has also been fostered by the almost total absence of the United States Administration, a regular at the meeting, as well as members of the Chinese Government, which even on the business side has opted on this occasion for a profile bass.

Definitely,

The leaders who have come to Davos, including the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the organizers of the meeting have shown their unequivocal support for President Zelenski, who once again asked the countries to cut any type of economic ties with Russia and insisted in the need to advance now in the country's reconstruction plans.

It is the glove that the European Commission has picked up when convening a donor conference in Lugano for June and that its president, Ursula von der Leyen, wants to link with the execution of reforms by the kyiv government, which would affect the fight against corruption, judicial independence or the efficiency of the Administration, among other issues.

That would allow, Von der Leyen pointed out, to bring Ukraine closer to European standards and thus pave its possible access to the EU.

Although it seems a bit early to assess how mature the Commission's proposal is, there is no doubt that it is an intelligent and pragmatic approach to reconstruction, to which the private sector and international organizations should be added.

They are the ones with the greatest financial power to face a reconstruction that becomes more expensive as the days go by.

Ukraine's estimate of half a billion euros could be exceeded by needs as the destruction carried out by the Russian Army in Donbas continues.

Undoubtedly, the conflict has also weighed on the mood of the executives meeting in Switzerland, and the fact is that the outlook report from the Davos Forum casts serious doubts on the performance of growth in the coming months given the risks that loom on the horizon in the form of inflation, rising interest rates, food and energy crises and tensions in supply chains, among the foreseeable threats.