Poland can make significant contribution to rebuilding Ukraine's energy infrastructure – Polish expert
This opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform during Ukrainian Week at the Warsaw School of Economics by Andrzej Rudka, Head of the Ukraine Cooperation Group at the employers' organization Konfederacja Lewiatan and one of the advisors to the Polish EU Presidency.
According to him, hundreds of Polish companies are currently operating in Ukraine, and their number is gradually increasing. Poland can make a substantial contribution to Ukraine’s recovery and the strengthening of its infrastructure — not only in road construction, railways, or rebuilding damaged facilities.
"I mean, for example, Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and there are also corresponding European financial resources available for this. For obvious reasons, this infrastructure must become decentralized, and these changes are already happening. In the future, there will not be a single large nuclear power plant that is vulnerable and could be shut down, but rather dispersed sources of energy. That’s the direction everything is heading," Rudka noted.
He explained that it is not so much about rebuilding infrastructure as it is about creating it from scratch under new conditions, using IT technologies and new solutions based on Ukraine’s experience in resilience.
He believes Ukraine’s experience with new IT solutions in the military sphere should be transferred to the civilian sector.
"We think it’s a fantastic thing we can learn from Ukraine. It’s about an element of resilience, resistance to sudden changes and challenging situations. It’s like a phoenix rising from the ashes — what is destroyed today is quickly rebuilt tomorrow or the day after," said Rudka.
According to him, Polish companies are interested in this Ukrainian experience and are already seeking cooperation in that direction.
The expert cited an example of a Polish company that manufactures elements for fire suppression systems:
"For them, the Ukrainian experience was very important. We helped them find partners in Ukraine, and now they are actively cooperating with a company in Kyiv," Rudka said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that Polish firms still hesitate to actively invest in Ukraine due to high security risks stemming from Russian armed aggression. However, he noted that these concerns mostly pertain to the eastern regions of Ukraine.
As an advisor to the Polish EU Presidency who has met with representatives of Western companies, he said that they are ready to invest broadly in Ukraine as soon as it becomes safe, with particular interest shown by German companies.
In his view, Ukraine’s investment attractiveness could be improved not only by enhanced security but also by significant progress in EU membership negotiations. Rudka believes this could serve as an "incentive for the inflow of foreign capital to Ukraine."
The expert noted that opening several negotiation clusters on Ukraine’s EU integration is “likely by the end of this year.” He sees accelerated EU integration as a “positive signal” not just for the EU countries but also for third countries, including the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Asian nations. In this context, he recalled that after Poland joined the EU in 2004, the level of investment from outside the EU even exceeded that from EU member states.
"That is something Ukraine should also consider. EU membership will provide a huge additional stimulus for businesses from outside the European Union. I’m convinced of this," said the Polish expert.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, according to European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, if the pace of negotiations with Ukraine is maintained, the EU may open all negotiation clusters by autumn.
