Ukraine: €3.5 billion for Member States to help them welcome refugees from Ukraine

The Commission has paid more than €3.5 billion in advance payments to Member States to help them manage the arrival of people fleeing the war in Ukraine on their territory. The payments for REACT-EU were made under the EU’s Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE). Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, said: “The EU stands in solidarity with Ukraine against the invasion by Russia as well as with our Member States in their solidarity effort of welcoming people fleeing the war. Today we see another concrete outcome of our solidarity with the mobilisation of cohesion funds to where these are more needed.” Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, added: “People fleeing the war in Ukraine need immediate support to rebuild their lives in safety. With these advance payments, Member States can offer food, accommodation, healthcare, education, help to access jobs and more to those in need.” Following the invasion by Russia on 24 February, the Commission has mobilised every effort to support civilians fleeing from the war, and to help Member States to host and take care of them. In particular, it has introduced the possibility to flexibly mobilise the available resources from cohesion policy within the 2014-2020 programmes, the possibility for 100% co-financing and has proposed to increase by €3.5 billion the pre-financing under REACT-EU. Member States can now make full advantage of the opportunities introduced by the Commission. The EU contribution will alleviate the additional burden on public budgets of Member States as the expenditure that can be covered is retroactively eligible from the date of the invasion of Ukraine. A more detailed breakdown per country is available here.