BRUSSELS, Belgium – In order to facilitate the hosting of refugees fleeing Ukraine due to the Russian aggression, the Council, on Tuesday, adopted a legislative act making available an additional €3.5 billion in total this year, which member states will receive based on the numbers of refugees arriving from Ukraine.
The act introduces changes to increase pre-financing under the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU), one of the largest post-pandemic recovery programmes, to reinforce cohesion policy funds and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD).
Specifically, pre-financing to be paid from REACT-EU in 2022 will increase from 11 to 15 percent for all member states, and from 11 to 45 percent for EU countries where the number of arrivals from Ukraine was greater than 1 percent of their population at the end of the first month following the Russian invasion.
To simplify the mobilisation of funds, the act also introduces the option of a unit cost per person, making it possible to meet the basic needs of displaced persons from Ukraine more effectively and provide them with basic assistance.
These changes seek to alleviate the pressure on member states’ public budgets, so that they can better deal with the inflow of refugees.
