On On 23 March, the European Commission proposed to increase by €3.4 billion the total pre-financing from the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) to support Member States welcoming and accommodating refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. Once adopted, this immediate injection of liquidity will speed-up Member States’ access to funds to spend on infrastructure, housing, equipment and services in employment, education, social inclusion, healthcare and childcare.
“Thousands of European families have opened their homes. Countless associations and NGOs are providing clothes, shelter, medicines, or are sending buses to drive Ukrainians to safety. All European Member States are doing their part. To help them, we have made sure that European funds can be used with utmost flexibility in support of refugees,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the first European Humanitarian Forum.
For all Member States, the Commission proposes to increase pre-financing from 11% to 15% of the 2021 REACT-EU tranche. Moreover, for frontline Member States (Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) and Member States that have received the highest number of arrivals from Ukraine in proportion to their national population (above 1% between 24 February 2022 and 23 March 2022 – Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia and Estonia), the Commission proposes to increase the percentage to 45%.
She added that the EU had set aside over €2.5 billion until 2024 to help the regions most affected by food insecurity provoked by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
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According to Ursula von der Leyen, Kremlin-made war is threatening food security across the world: “Ukraine is the granary of the world. Ukraine alone provides more than half of the World Food Programme’s wheat supply. Countries like Somalia rely entirely on Ukraine and Russia for their wheat imports.”