On Monday 4 April, the EU Council adopted amendments allowing Member States to reallocate resources from cohesion policy funds and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) to help the 4.2 million refugees who have fled Ukraine.
This should help Member States to cover housing, education and health care needs.
In particular, the EU Council adopted the regulation on the Cohesion Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE), which amends the 2014-2020 legal framework governing the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD).
Member States can also use up to €9.5 billion of the 2022 tranche of REACT-EU funding, as well as unallocated cohesion policy resources from the 2014-2020 budget period. CARE is also extending the 100% funding from the EU budget for cohesion programmes by one accounting year.
“The extension of funding to 100%, the release of unprogrammed 2014-2020 cohesion funds and the 2022 tranche of REACT-EU funding should make almost €17 billion available” summarises the EU Council, which also approved an amendment to the 2014-2020 Home Affairs Fund and the 2021-2027 Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund to make an additional €420 million available. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)