European Commission proposes allocation of EUR 3.4B to EU countries welcoming refugees from Ukraine

The European Commission has proposed that EUR 3.4 billion be allocated from the EU's recovery assistance fund, the so-called REACT-EU, to support Member States welcoming and accommodating refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Ukrinform reports this with a reference to the website of the European Commission.

“For all Member States, the Commission proposes to increase pre-financing from 11% to 15% of the 2021 REACT-EU tranche. Moreover, for frontline Member States (Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) and Member States that have received the highest number of arrivals from Ukraine in proportion to their national population (above 1% between 24 February 2022 and 23 March 2022 - Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia and Estonia), the Commission proposes to increase the percentage to 45%. This total increase in pre-financing equals €3.4 billion to be paid to Member States upon approval of the proposal by co-legislators,” the report says.

It is noted that the allocation of such targeted financing will speed-up Member States' access to funds to spend on infrastructure, housing, equipment and services in employment, education, social inclusion, healthcare and childcare.

As part of NextGenerationEU, REACT-EU provides a top-up of EUR 50.6 billion to the 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes over the course of 2021 and 2022. REACT-EU entered into force on 24 December 2020 and can finance expenditure retroactively from 1 February 2020 until 31 December 2023.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine in 2014, the EU and its Member States have contributed over EUR 1 billion in humanitarian and early recovery aid to the country. 

iy