Unused regional funds to help refugees from Ukraine

Hundreds of millions of Euros of unused EU regional funding should be urgently directed to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the devastating war in their home country, most of whom are women and children, EPP Group Spokesman on Regional Development, Andrey Novakov MEP will propose at the launch of the EPP Group Cohesion Monitoring Group.

"Over 1.8 million people from Ukraine, mostly women and children, have fled Russia's war on Ukraine and will need a safe place to stay across many different Member States. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of Euros of EU regional funding are not being used because governments have not managed to invest them. We are proposing that this unused funding be urgently directed under a Cohesion4Ukraine initiative to help Ukrainian refugees", said Novakov.

The initiative would fund the provision of first aid, food, water, medication, hosting persons in European hotels, and transportation, amongst other emergency measures. It would help Member States to continue to provide assistance by reducing the burden on national and regional budgets.

"It makes absolute sense to repurpose unused money in this way since cohesion funding is all about rebuilding during times of crisis. We want to help our Ukrainian neighbours and support our Member States in their efforts in that regard", Novakov said.

The proposal coincides with the launch this week by the EPP Group of its Cohesion Monitoring Group to assess the effectiveness of cohesion policy across the EU: “€392bn or one-third of the entire EU budget has been dedicated to cohesion policy for 2021-2027, so it really is a massive source of investment.”

"We want regions, enterprises, SMEs and NGOs to access these funds, to improve infrastructure, to build motorways and railways, to invest in research and innovation, to make economies cleaner and greener, more digital. In two words - more modern. We have the tool. Now, we have to implement it and make the best use of it", said EPP Group Vice-Chairman Siegfried Mureşan MEP, who is in charge of budgetary issues.