European Council approves conclusions on evaluation of cohesion policy actions in support of Ukrainian refugees in Europe
The European Council has approved the conclusions of the European Court of Auditors' (ECA) report aimed at assessing the actions of cohesion policy in support of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
The press service of the European institution said this on Monday.
The press release states that to address the migration problems caused by the war in Ukraine, the EU has gradually adapted the rules of cohesion policy by adopting the Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) Initiative.
"The ECA examined whether member states effectively used CARE and the cohesion policy funds available to address the needs of the refugees, and concluded that CARE did help member states use the available cohesion policy funding to address the crisis. However, ECA also found that the monitoring of cohesion policy funding does not capture the entire support and the use of CARE and recommended that, if the Commission were to prepare proposals for new crisis‑related measures or amendments, it should ensure that there is an appropriate monitoring system with data necessary to assess their effectiveness," the Council said.
In addition, the Council conclusions recall the three regulations on CARE for the benefit of refugees in Europe (CARE, CARE Plus and FAST-CARE), which " increased flexibility, liquidity and simplification to cohesion policy for the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Frameworks (MFFs) and made it easier for member states to finance projects helping to address the migratory challenges resulting from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine." "The Council agrees, however, with the Court's conclusion that there is a risk that the repeated use of cohesion policy to address crises may impact its primary strategic goal to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion between European regions," the press release states.
The Council also called on the Commission to ensure that an appropriate monitoring system is in place in case it prepares new measures or amendments related to crisis, so that the data needed to assess the effectiveness of such measures are available. In particular, the Commission should aim for a proportionate monitoring system that allows for a rapid response and avoids excessive administrative burden.
As is well known, the CARE initiative supports Member States and regions in providing emergency assistance to people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On February 12, 2025, the European Commission for Civil Protection (ECA) published its special report entitled "CARE actions for refugees in Europe: increased flexibility but insufficient data hinders future assessment of effectiveness" which provides an in-depth assessment of the use by Member States of the three Cohesion Actions for Ukrainian refugees in Europe (CARE, CARE Plus and FAST-CARE), the available cohesion policy funds to address the specific needs of displaced persons from Ukraine and the support provided by the Commission for the implementation of CARE actions.
