#Brexit: How many Marshall Plans to save Ukraine?

Germany is working on a 'Marshall Plan' for Ukraine, Karl-Georg Wellmann, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and head of the German-Ukrainian parliamentary group, said in an interview with the newspaper Segodnya.

"We have been working on a new strategy for Ukraine's stabilization and development with much greater financial and political efforts. This is something new, and it will supplement the Association Agreement,"

That's the second Marshall Plan from the EU if this is distinct from that described by the European People's Party.

There's also the Marshall Plan reported by Huffington Post, being developed by a group which includes former Trade Secretary Lord Mandelson and oligarch Dmitri Firtash.

Journalist and Member of Parliament Sergii Leshchenko describes The Firtash Octopus  neglecting to include Lord Mandelson in the list.

"Dirty money from the East has become a resource for dozens of European structures and politicians. Sergii Leshchenko reports on some of those that are only too happy to open their doors to a Ukrainian oligarch willing to invest millions in cleaning up his image."

Interestingly, no news medium has reported more than one of these. Could that be a indication of partiality?

Neither has any news medium reported the 'Marshall Plan' described to the European Citizens Consultation in 2008.  It may only be found on web archives today, giving us an indication of EU transparency. 

There is however one EU official to whom it is well known. Commissioner Michel Barnier who corresponded with Sir Graham Watson MEP about it in 2012.

In his response Commissioner Barnier denied plagiarism and suggested scope for future collaboration.

The following year, our people-centered business model would be the subject of yet another costly EU conference. We were not invited of course.

"On 5th June, Cooperatives Europe and Fair Trade Advocacy Office join forces to underline the role that people-centred businesses should have in the EU development strategy. To this end they organized the high level conference ‘People-centred businesses: making supply chains work for small producers’, hosted by MEP Gay Mitchell.

At the event, Dirk J. Lehnhoff, President of Cooperatives Europe, said: “Cooperatives and Fair Trade are established development actors with long-term oriented business models. By putting people’s needs first, we have proven to be able to respond to sustainable, economic and social needs.”

It could have been lifted directly from our proposal. The only 'Marshall Plan for Ukraine that can be viewed online.

'This is a long-term permanently sustainable program, the basis for "people-centered" economic development. Core focus is always on people and their needs, with neediest people having first priority – as contrasted with the eternal chase for financial profit and numbers where people, social benefit, and human well-being are often and routinely overlooked or ignored altogether. This is in keeping with the fundamental objectives of Marshall Plan: policy aimed at hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. This is a bottom-up approach, starting with Ukraine's poorest and most desperate citizens, rather than a "top-down" approach that might not ever benefit them. They cannot wait, particularly children. Impedance by anyone or any group of people constitutes precisely what the original Marshall Plan was dedicated to opposing. Those who suffer most, and those in greatest need, must be helped first -- not secondarily, along the way or by the way. '

The call, for USAID support went out in February 2008, describing the appaling condtions in which institutionalised children were kept, and the organised crime which benefited from this  He described the anti-curruption network under development   By then, one hijack had already been attempted:

"As the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan came around in June 2007, noise was emerging within Ukraine of a certain political boss preparing a Marshall Plan for Ukraine.  This person was a reputed mob boss -- exactly the sort of entity that the original Marshall Plan meant to oppose.  It seemed most likely that whatever he came up with would be self-serving, hijacking the label 'Marshall Plan' and turning the whole notion on its head.  I reviewed the original Marshall Plan and realized that what I had written was, in fact, the definition and spirit of the original Marshall Plan.  Thus, in June 2007, I appended the original title with "A Marshall Plan for Ukraine."  After some discussion among trusted colleagues over timing, I published an abbreviated version of the paper in two parts in August 2007 in the 'analytics' section of the Ukrainian news journal for-ua.com. "

Founder Terry Hallman believed to the end that Ukraine's oligarchs were the obstacle to the primary focus, childcare reform which would place all children in loving family homes. He made impact to some extent , in .

The proposed social enterprise development component proved more palatable. By 2010 USAID had partnered with a group of organisations to deploy their own.

Partners included Ukrainian oligarchs and The British Council. Even the John Smith Fellowship which Sergii Leshchenko is so proud of, were involved in this hijack 

John Smith was the former leader of the Labour party, whose death opened the door for Tony Blair and his neoliberal policies, Blair's Faith Foundation has benefited from donations by oligarch Viktor Pinchuk.

That's why you'll find Blair at Davos beside him, regurgitating the concepts of business for social benefit described in the Marshall Plan, now under new ownership.  

 

My last attempt to gain the support of the EU came as violence erupted when I passed on the appeal for help from Maidan activists. 

Last week in London the Henry Jackson Society met to discuss Ukraine and the EU.

"In the discussion, Mr Leshchenko insisted that the approach of Western countries and international organisations should be guided less by particular politicians, focusing instead on common values. Ms Ptashnyk reiterated that the conditions set out by international organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund, are currently the best possible aid to Ukraine. Asked whether the UK would be more supportive of Ukraine inside or outside the EU, Mr Ryabchyn answered that he hoped the UK would remain a firm friend of Ukraine in any case, but that he would prefer to see the UK stay in the EU."

if he ever gets to know how the EU responds to its own, he may live to understand the expression - be careful what you wish for.