Lhe Council of the EU adopted legislative amendments allowing member states to redirect funds from cohesion policy and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD).
“The rapid change in legislation on EU funds demonstrates the solidarity that the EU continues to show towards refugees from Ukraine, as well as towards the Member States hosting them , in particular those that share a border with Ukraine,” the Council said in a statement, noting that this is “an important step” to ensure that member states have sufficient resources to meet the growing needs. in housing, education and health care.
To mobilize maximum funds, the Council adopted the Cohesion Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) Regulation amending the 2014-2020 legal framework governing the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) and the aid to the most deprived (FEAD).
The amendments also provide exceptional flexibility for the transfer of resources between programs financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund in order to cope with the influx of refugees.
This flexibility means, for example, that resources earmarked for infrastructure projects can be reallocated to provide health care and education to people fleeing war.
Member States can use a total of up to €9.5 billion under the 2022 tranche of REACT-EU, one of the EU’s largest post-pandemic public investment programmes, as well as Cohesion policy resources that were not allocated during the 2014-2020 budget period.
In addition, the CARE mechanism extends the 100% funding from the EU budget for cohesion programs for one accounting year. This will ease the burden on national and regional budgets due to the influx of refugees from Ukraine.
The Council also adopted an amendment to the Home Affairs Funds (2014-2020) and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (2021-2027). This modification will provide additional resources for the reception of people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
It will extend the implementation period of the Home Affairs Funds by one year (2014-2020) and unlock access to unspent amounts under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund which had previously been earmarked for other purposes.
This will allow Member States to urgently use the remaining funds to help deal with the massive influx of people and should unlock additional aid of up to an estimated €420 million from unused funds.
The text also gives Member States and other public or private donors the possibility to make additional financial contributions under the Fund (2021 2027) in the form of external assigned revenue. These will fund asylum and migration activities in Member States during crises, including those resulting from the war in Ukraine.
