COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Upgrading Cohesion policy - Flexible Assistance to territories (FAST - CARE) - to address the consequences of Russian aggression
Date: 2022-06-29
Institutions: Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU financing, EU migration policy, Russia, Ukraine, additional resources, aid to refugees, economic and social cohesion, integration of migrants, military intervention

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 29.6.2022  COM(2022) 324 final  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Upgrading Cohesion policy - Flexible Assistance to territories (FAST - CARE) - to address the consequences of Russian aggression  
 
 
1.  Introduction 

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has brought new and unexpected challenges 
for the European Union and for the whole world. While our societies are still recovering 
from  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  the  Russian  invasion  has  brought  war  and  destruction, 
heightened geopolitical instability and disruption to the world economy.  

The EU continues to stand in solidarity with Ukraine and its people. Since 2014, the EU 
and its Member States have contributed over €1 billion in humanitarian and early recovery aid 
to  the  country.  Since  the  Russian  invasion  of  Ukraine,  this  support  has  been  scaled  up, 
totalling over €4 billion for Ukraine’s economic, social and financial resilience in the form of 
macro-financial  assistance,  budget  support,  emergency  assistance,  crisis  response  and 
humanitarian aid. The EU also mobilised additional €2 billion in military assistance under the 
European  Peace  Facility.  Moreover,  the  EU  has  reacted  swiftly  and  decisively  to  Russia’s 
invasion by adopting sanctions that will have massive and severe consequences for Russia.  

Since  24  February,  the  EU  has  received  a  sudden  inflow  of  people  fleeing  the  Russian 
aggression. To date more than 6.2 million Ukrainian nationals arrived in the Union. Although 
some have begun returning to Ukraine and entry flows are slowly stabilising, the numbers are 
still  significant  and  climbing.  The  impacts  of  the  inflow  vary  across  Member  States.  Some 
Member  States  and  regions  have  received  a  very  high  share  of  arrivals,  with  those  granted 
temporary protection already exceeding 1% of the national population in eight Member States 
and surpassing 3% in Poland and Czechia.  

The efforts to welcome and swiftly facilitate the integration of displaced persons during 
their  stay  in  the  EU  are  unprecedented.  The  initiatives  of  Member  States  have  been 
multiplied by local authorities and civil society, which continue to be at the front line of the 
efforts  to  address  humanitarian  needs,  including  shelter,  clothing,  hygiene  items,  as  well  as 
psychological support.  

The EU has provided support through unprecedented measures and funding addressing 
the needs of displaced persons1. The EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive2 for 
the first time ever, granting immediate and collective temporary protection to people fleeing 
the  Russian  aggression.  The  temporary  protection  status  provides  access  to  health  care,  to 
education and to the labour market, and around half a million children from Ukraine are now 
benefitting from schooling in refugee-hosting countries.  

Union  support  under  the  European  Civil  Protection  Mechanism  (RescEU)  has  also  been 
immediately mobilised, together with Home Affairs Funds still available under the 2014-2020 
period.  In  addition,  following  the  “Stand  Up  for  Ukraine”  pledging  event,  €400  million  is 
being mobilised from the Home Affairs Funds as Emergency Assistance to the most affected 
Member States. Part of these funds will target local  and regional authorities as well as civil 

1  COM(2022) 131 final - Welcoming those fleeing Ukraine: Readying Europe to meet the needs. 
2 Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons 

from Ukraine. 

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society  organisations  to  acknowledge  the  crucial  role  they  are  playing  in  providing  first 
reception to displaced persons from Ukraine. 

Given the urgency to address the situation, several proposals were adopted to  increase 
flexibility  in  cohesion  funding  to  support  Member  States.  The  Cohesion's  Action  for 
Refugees  in  Europe  (CARE)  successive  packages3  are  helping  Member  States  to  provide 
emergency support and access to services such as temporary accommodation, food and water 
supplies or medical care.  

CARE has enabled in particular the flexible use of the European Regional Development Fund 
(ERDF)  and  the  European  Social  Fund  (ESF)  under  2014-2020  cohesion  programmes  for 
projects  addressing  these  migratory  challenges,  applying  retroactive  eligibility  as  from  the 
date of the invasion, in order to enable all actions that had been taken immediately to cover 
the related needs of refugees to be supported by the EU.  

Moreover,  a  tailor-made  unit  cost  was  introduced  to  reduce  the  administrative  burden  for 
beneficiaries and Member State administrations in the context of addressing these challenges.  

Furthermore,  the  possibility  to  receive  a  full  reimbursement  of  expenditure  declared  to  the 
Commission was extended until 30 June 2022 and pre-financing from REACT-EU resources 
was  substantially  increased,  amounting  to  an  extra  €3.5  billion  in  advance  payments  to 
alleviate the burden on Member States’ public finances.  

Member  States  may  already  use  this  funding  to  develop  tailor-made  solutions  for  the  long-
term  integration  of  third  country  nationals  through  investments  in  housing,  education, 
employment,  health,  social  inclusion  and  care,  or  other  social  services.  It  is  nonetheless 
crucial that they proceed quickly with programme adjustments to ensure the financing flows 
where it is most needed. 

Despite  all  the  efforts  made,  needs  continue  to  grow.  Numerous  stakeholders  from  civil 
society, local and regional authorities and Member States have addressed the Commission and 
raised specific difficulties that have been encountered in helping persons fleeing the Russian 
aggression.  Their  concerns  have  been  echoed  by  the  European  Parliament  and  by  the 
European Council4, which has invited the Commission, at its special meeting on 30-31 May, 
to  “present  new  initiatives  to  support  this  effort  within  the  Multiannual  Financial 
Framework”. 

Building  on  previous  efforts,  the  Commission  adopted  today  an  additional  set  of 
measures  to  further  increase  the  flexibility  of  the  cohesion  policy  to  address  the 
consequences  of the war, and provide liquidity  amounting to  €3.5  billion. These FAST-
CARE measures will help ensure that Member States get easier and faster access to funding to 

3  Regulation  (EU)  2022/562  amending  Regulations  (EU)  No  1303/2013  and  (EU)  No  223/2014  (OJ  L  109, 

8.4.2022, p. 1). 
Regulation  (EU)  2022/613  amending  Regulations  (EU)  No  1303/2013  and  (EU)  No  223/2014  (OJ  L  115, 
13.4.2022, p. 38). 

4 Conclusions of the European Council of 30 et 31 May 2022 

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address  the  needs  of  people  fleeing  the  war  in  Ukraine,  while  continuing  to  support  the 
recovery of Europe’s regions. 

2.  Additional flexible assistance within cohesion policy to address the consequences 

of the war 

The  Russian  war  of  aggression  against  Ukraine  has  led  to  an  unprecedented  influx  of 
displaced persons, exacerbated hikes in commodity prices, including for energy and food, and 
caused  renewed  supply  chain  bottlenecks.  Addressing  these  challenges  comes  on  top  of  the 
unparalleled support provided to tackle the pandemic and strengthen the recovery and further 
burdens Members States’ public finances. As a result, deficit and debt levels have increased 
and are expected to remain above pre-pandemic levels in most Member States in the coming 
years.  

In this context, the Commission is proposing a comprehensive set of measures under cohesion 
policy,  complementing  the  initiatives  taken  so  far.  The  Flexible  Assistance  to  Territories 
(FAST  - CARE) will complement the CARE measures5 and  rests on two  pillars:  legislative 
proposals,  on  the  one  hand,  providing  additional  flexibility  under  cohesion  policy  and 
additional  pre-financing  and,  on  the  other,  complementary,  non-legislative  measures  to 
optimise the effective use of the funds and to address the emerging needs.  

The proposed legislative measures include: 

-  Additional  pre-financing,  amounting  for  €3.5  billion,  to  be  paid  in  2022  and  2023 

which will provide rapid additional liquidity to all Member States.  

-  A  co-financing  rate  of  up  to  100%  for  priorities  promoting  the  socio-economic 
integration  of  third  country  nationals  under  2014-2020  programmes,  with  the 
increased rate also being available under 2021-2027 programmes, until mid-2024 with 
a possibility to review.  

-  Given the essential role of local authorities and civil society organisations operating in 
local communities in welcoming and supporting people fleeing the Russian aggression 
of  Ukraine,  Member  States  should  ensure  that  at  least  30%  of  support  under  the 
relevant priorities is granted to such authorities and organisations.  

-  For  projects  addressing  migratory  challenges,  Member  States  will  be  able  to  declare 
expenditure for reimbursement, even for operations that are already completed or fully 
implemented at the time of selection6. 

-  Under CARE, the Commission had introduced a new unit cost as a simplified way for 
Member States and beneficiaries to calculate eligible project costs. Given the extended 
impact  of  the  Russian  aggression,  this  unit  cost  is  proposed  to  be  increased  to  EUR 
100  per  week  for  26  weeks  to  cover  the  basic  needs  and  support  of  persons  granted 
temporary protection from their arrival in the Union.  

5  The  proposal  is  also  consistent  with  the  Commission  proposal  of  13  April  2022,  to  amend  the  European 
Maritime and Fisheries Fund for 2014-2020 budget to support operators and introduce specific crisis measures. 
6 This flexibility will also apply to affected projects in the fishery and aquaculture sectors under the European 

Maritime and Fisheries Fund. 

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-  The  cross-financing  possibility  already  granted  between  the  ERDF  and  ESF  is 
proposed  to  be  extended  to  the  Cohesion  Fund  to  support  projects  addressing  these 
challenges, under 2014-2020 programmes, irrespectively of their traditional eligibility 
scope. This will allow the mobilisation of resources still available under the Cohesion 
Fund for emergency and integration-related purposes. 

- 

-  Other measures enable the continuation of support to uncompleted operations, in order 
to  address  other consequences  of Russia’s military  aggression in  the implementation 
of  EU  funds,  such  as  the  risk  of  delays  due  to  price  increases,  especially  for  energy 
and food and the shortage of input materials, notably in the construction sector. 
In addition, further flexibility is proposed for refugee-related support to be possible for 
operations  outside  the  area  covered  by  the  programme  providing  the  funding  but 
within  the  Member  State.  This  is  necessary  because  persons  fleeing  the  Russian 
aggression  may  move  within  Member  States,  and  support  may  therefore  be  needed 
outside the areas otherwise covered by the funding programmes. 

-  Lastly, in order to smoothen the implementation of programmes, additional flexibility 
would  be  granted 
transfers  within  programmes,  without  requiring 
Commission  decisions,  as  well  as  an  increased  level  of  flexibility  for  declaring 
expenditure at programme closure.  

to  make 

In addition to the above measures, the Commission is also actively working on ways to reduce 
the  administrative  burden  of  operations  supporting  the  socio-economic  integration  of  third 
country  nationals.  Building  on  the  simplified  cost  options  (SCOs)  of  the  2014-2020  period, 
the  Commission  will  also  develop,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  simple  ways  to  support 
operations  on  education,  training  of  unemployed  people,  training  of  employees  and  job-
related counselling services, to be supported under the ESF+ for 2021-2027. A new delegated 
act will contain specific provisions for third country nationals with the goal of fostering their 
long-term integration in the EU. 

Besides  these  legislative  proposals,  the  Commission  will  also  extend  its  support  to 
stakeholders,  beneficiaries  and  managing  authorities  through  two  additional  non-legislative 
actions. 

These non-legislative actions include:  

-  Firstly,  the  proposed  changes  facilitating  the  phasing  of  projects  over  two 
programming  periods  will  be  complemented,  upon  adoption  of  the  Commission 
legislative  proposals,  by  an  update  of  the  guidelines  on  closure  of  the  2014-2020 
programmes.  This  will  bring  substantial  additional  flexibilities  benefiting 
to 
unfinished projects, by: (i) extending the administrative deadlines for their completion 
from  national  resources;  (ii)  reducing  the  size  of  such  projects  which  may  still  be 
included  in  the  final  accounts;  and  (iii)  by  increasing  the  corresponding  share  of 
expenditure, compared to the total expenditure decided for the concerned programmes. 
In  addition,  in  the  coming  weeks,  the  Commission  will  assess  the  situation  of 
contracting  authorities  that  are  currently  struggling  with  the  implementation  of 
contracts,  due  to  economic  difficulties  encountered  by  contractors  because  of 

- 

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increased costs and supply chain difficulties. The Commission is planning to provide 
appropriately  tailored  technical  guidance,  aiming  in  particular  at  clarifying  the 
possibilities for contract modifications which exist under the current legal framework.  

3.  Conclusion 

With  this  package,  the  EU  further  adapts  cohesion  policy  to  help  address  the 
consequences of the Russian aggression.  The proposals accompanying this Communication 
respond  to  the  request  of  the  European  Council  to  “present  new  initiatives  to  support  this 
effort  within  the  Multiannual  Financial  Framework”.  They  aim  to  help  Member  States, 
regional  and  local  authorities  leading  the  effort  to  address  the  humanitarian,  medical  and 
integration needs by offering additional financial support and flexibility.  

The  package  further  contributes  to  building  the  resilience  of  regions.  It  is  in  line  with 
cohesion policy’s long-term objective of reducing disparities and promoting convergence and 
does  not  alter  the  structure  and  objectives  of  cohesion  policy  under  its  2021-2027 
programmes,  including  the  overarching  objectives  of  fast-forwarding  the  twin  green  and 
digital 
this  package  does  not 
compromise the principles of budgetary discipline and sound financial management. 

important  flexibilities, 

transitions.  While 

introducing 

In order to be effective, it is essential that Member States and regions quickly make full 
use of the opportunities created by this new set of measures, as well as from the recently 
adopted  initiatives.  They  provide  unprecedented  flexibilities  in  using  the  cohesion  policy 
funding available today and they also provide recognition for the enormous efforts made by 
Member States and regions. Effective coordination of all the support and possibilities granted 
under cohesion policy and under other EU instruments is key to supporting all of the people 
and  businesses  that  are  bearing  the  consequences  of  the  Russian  war  of  aggression  against 
Ukraine. 

It  is  also  crucial  that  the  co-legislators  proceed  to  swiftly  examine  and  adopt  the 
legislative measures proposed, to ensure their rapid and effective take up. 

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