Brussels, 25/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a statement on Wednesday 23 September, Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Cretu spoke of use possibly being made of cohesion policy funding to help integrate migrants and refugees.
“We are exploring how our funds could further contribute to addressing the migration challenge in the framework of cross-border cooperation programmes and macro-regional strategies”, she said.
According to a European source, the Commission would like to ask the member states to request an amendment so that operational programmes for the period 2014-2020 could be reprogrammed. It would then be for the monitoring committee to rule on the request under the terms of Article 47 of Regulation No 1303/2013 laying down common provisions on the various funds.
The European regional development fund (ERDF) contains measures for inclusive growth in line with the 2020 strategy that would allow the financing of infrastructure (kindergartens, housing, healthcare services, social services, etc.) to help legal migrants integrate more easily while, at the same time, contributing to the regeneration of deprived urban areas. There are already instances, in Greece, for example, where funding allocated by the ERDF is financing refugee reception centres. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)