European auditors: Prompt EU action helped member states to take care of refugees from Ukraine
The mass arrival of people from Ukraine in EU countries in 2022 required immediate action, and the measures the EU rapidly adopted did help to address their needs, according to a report published on February 12 by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
The EU’s “Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe” (CARE) scheme did not provide any additional money, but it did allow member states to reallocate some remaining EU cohesion policy funds flexibly and swiftly to relevant projects, the report said.
However, there is a lack of specific data on and monitoring of the money spent to address these migratory challenges. This is likely to hinder any assessment of CARE’s effectiveness, warn the auditors.
By the end of October 2024, about 4.2 million people who had fled Ukraine were benefitting from temporary protection in the EU, primarily in Germany (1.1 million), Poland (984 000), Czechia (379 000) and Spain (222 000).
This protection included immediate residency, social welfare, medical care, education, access to accommodation or housing, and the right to work.
To help support these member states, the EU gradually adapted its cohesion policy rules by adopting three CARE regulations. These gave member states discretion to swiftly redirect unspent funds from 2014-2020 cohesion programmes, including the REACT-EU pandemic response initiative, to support refugees.
“Even though only a relatively small amount of funding was available compared to the overall assistance provided to refugees, EU measures proved to be helpful in addressing the many challenges resulting from the massive influx of refugees from Ukraine,” George-Marius Hyzler, the ECA Member responsible for the audit, said.
“The CARE measures were designed to provide the flexibility, liquidity and simplification that member states needed to support these refugees more effectively.”
The auditors acknowledge that reprogramming EU funds was not an easy task.
The process was complicated by the rapidly evolving scale of refugee flows, especially in eastern and central EU countries. However, this did not prevent support from being based on an analysis of refugees’ needs. Reallocated EU money has also complemented overall national and regional responses to the crisis.
Thanks to efficient selection processes, projects could be implemented quickly, as early as spring 2022.
This allowed the co-financing of activities covering different types and stages of assistance, from first reception and immediate relief to support for long-term integration.
The European Commission provided EU countries with timely and appropriate guidance on implementing CARE, drawing on its previous experience with Covid response investment initiatives.
However, the auditors criticise the poor monitoring of the funds that were allocated, as the European Commission is not able to track the total amount of funding used to support refugees under CARE.
Furthermore, it does not have specific data on the number of programmes that support refugees from Ukraine, or common evaluation indicators. As a result, the effectiveness of CARE cannot be measured.
CARE is not the first example of cohesion policy funds being used in response to exceptional situations, such as the 2015 migration crisis or, more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.
Noting that the new rules in place allow for even greater flexibility, the EU auditors once again highlight the risk associated with repeated use of cohesion policy funds to provide a short-term response to crises.
This may actually have a negative impact on the policy’s primary goal, which is to strengthen economic and social cohesion between European regions.
(Archive photo: UNHCR/ Chris Melzer)
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