Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch, whose country holds the Presidency of the EU Council, said on Tuesday 28 March that funds to rebuild Ukraine after the war should focus on the energy sector.
“A large part of the restoration and rebuilding funds has to really focus on and target the energy sector and rebuild it to sort of the next level”, i.e. an infrastructure that is more modern, she told the media, alongside her Ukrainian counterpart German Galushchenko. Ms Busch noted the numerous attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“We have clearly seen how the energy sector has been militarised and how the energy sector is truly on the front line of this war”, she added.
Mr Galushchenko called on the EU to adopt sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry. “A very important point is to sanction nuclear power”, he explained, pointing to Russia’s actions against Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure and nuclear safety and security. In his opinion, this would send “a strong signal to the civilised world that the Russians are not to be in the European market”, he said.
Ms Busch said it was possible for more countries in the future to shift away from dependence on Russian gas, oil or nuclear power. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)