Ten EU Member States - Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia - asked the European Commission on Tuesday 3 May to adapt the spending rules of the Cohesion Fund and to consider new tools for channelling European financial aid to countries facing the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
The request from these countries is expected to be discussed on Thursday 5 May at a meeting of the EU Council Working Party on Structural Measures and Outermost Regions.
“As a first step the means still available in the EU budget should be mobilised to tackle the ramifications of the war, including special instruments and budgetary flexibility planned for future years, as necessary. However, ad hoc solutions may be necessary”, write the authors of the joint letter, first revealed by Politico.
Regarding the rules applicable to the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework, “an extension of the eligibility period for at least one year should be provided for the sectors or projects directly affected by the current circumstances” and “extension of the 100% co-financing rate for another accounting year is also needed”, say the 10 countries.
To date, the EU has mobilised 24 billion euros to help Member States cope with the influx of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Link to the letter: https://bit.ly/38LYIpf (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)