EU Countries Sheltering Ukrainian Refugees To Receive €3.4 Billion
MEPs decided on Thursday that EU countries sheltering Ukrainian refugees will immediately receive €3.4 billion to address their needs.
Following the Parliament’s green light to redirect EU regional and asylum funding to EU countries sheltering people fleeing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, MEPs adopted additional support measures.
MEPs agreed to release the funds out of the “REACT-EU” fund with 549 votes to one and eight abstentions and speed up EU governments’ access to funds to pay for infrastructure, housing, equipment, employment, education, social inclusion, healthcare and childcare for refugees.
REACT-EU is a €50 billion package set up in 2020 to help mitigate the immediate effects of the COVID-19 crisis across the EU.
The new rules will increase the initial pre-financing of REACT-EU resources from 11% to 15% to all EU countries bordering Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia).
Those that have received a significant amount of refugees from Ukraine that are equivalent to or more than one percent of their national population can immediately get 45% of their recovery funds without any invoices to be presented at this time. Such countries include Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Estonia.
According to the UNHCR, more than 4 million people have left the country since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, most of them heading to neighbouring countries.
If you wish to help Ukraine from Malta, but don’t know how, check out these Maltese organisations that are collecting funds and supplies to send to Ukraine. Alternatively, you can donate directly to some of these foreign organisations, as well as find a list of different things you could do on this webpage.
This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
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