Habeck says German business ready to invest in rebuilding Ukraine

By Martina Herzog in Kiev and Lena Klimkeit, dpa

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said during a visit to Kiev that Germany would provide more aid for Ukraine to make its energy system more secure while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Habeck, a Green Party leader, arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Monday accompanied by a German business delegation. Upon arriving at the railway station in Kiev, Habeck said his visit was intended to send a clear signal to Ukraine.

“[A signal] that we believe it will be victorious, that it will be rebuilt, that there is an interest from Europe not only to support it in times of need, but that Ukraine will also be an economically strong partner in the future.”

Habeck, who is also the economy minister, said he travelled with a business delegation to “give Ukraine hope that there will be reconstruction after the war.”

“Concrete investment decisions” have already been made or will be made, Habeck said, and German businesses are prepared to help rebuild Ukraine.

After visiting a power substation supplying the most densely populated parts of Ukraine run by state-owned utility Ukrenergo, Habeck said that Germany and Ukraine should deepen and expand a formal energy partnership.

Germany and Ukraine have had a formal energy partnership since 2020, aimed at increasing energy efficiency, modernizing the electricity sector, expanding renewable energy production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Habeck said achieving those goals could make the Ukrainian energy sector more resilient and also turn the country into an energy exporter to the rest of Europe.

“The wish and the strategic plans – and these are security plans of the Ukrainians – are actually to make the energy system broader and more decentralized,” said Habeck. “In this respect, two things fit together quite well: the need for security and a sustainable energy system.”

German energy aid has largely focused on emergency repairs to the grid since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Siegfried Russwurm, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and several other business executives accompanied Habeck on the trip.

The trip serves as a “signal to the Ukrainians that the German business community also stands by them,” Russwurm said.

Many German companies are still active in Ukraine and it is about both understanding their problems and focusing on the reconstruction of the country, he said.

“And this reconstruction starts now, not after a peace deal,” he added.

The head of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Martin Wanslaben, said a particular priority is placed on construction, transport, municipal infrastructure and energy, according to business newspaper Handelsblatt.

Habeck last visited Ukraine in May 2021 as Green Party leader before becoming a minister – and before Russia invaded in February 2022.

At the time, Habeck – then an opposition politician – visited the front line in eastern Ukraine and spoke out in favour of supplying “defensive weapons” to the country as it fought a low-level conflict with Russia.

The proposal was greeted with bewilderment in his own party, and the German government of then-chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the plan.