Ukraine: Council approves conclusions assessing cohesion policy’s action for Ukrainian refugees in Europe

Today, the Council approved conclusions on a European Court of Auditors' (ECA) report aiming to assess cohesion policy's action in support of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

To address migratory challenges caused by the war in Ukraine, the EU gradually adapted cohesion policy rules by adopting Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE).

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.

In its conclusions, the Council recalls the three regulations on Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE, CARE Plus and FAST-CARE) that 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.

Finally, the Council invites the Commission to ensure an appropriate monitoring system is in place, should it prepare new crisis-related measures or amendments, so that data necessary for assessing the effectiveness of such measures is available. The Commission should notably aim for a proportionate monitoring system that allows for a rapid response and avoids excessive administrative burden.

Background information

The Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) initiative supports member states and regions in providing emergency assistance to people fleeing from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On 12 February 2025, ECA published its special report titled 'Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe: Increased flexibility but insufficient data hinders future assessment of effectiveness', which provides an in-depth assessment of the use of the three regulations on cohesion's action for Ukrainian refugees in Europe (CARE, CARE+ and FAST-CARE) by member states, the available cohesion policy funds to address the specific needs of displaced people from Ukraine, and the support provided by the Commission for the implementation of CARE measures.

The report found that CARE provided member states with flexibility, liquidity and simplification to facilitate the use of cohesion policy funds to respond swiftly to migratory challenges, despite the limited funding available under 2014-2020 programmes. Managing authorities found the assistance and guidance provided by the Commission on the CARE provisions and their implementation timely and suitable, and considered the CARE flexibility mechanisms helpful in responding to the migratory challenges. However, their uptake varied substantially among programmes and member states, as the crisis did not affect all of them equally.

The report also found that reprogramming was affected by the uncertain or unavailable information concerning the flows of refugees from Ukraine and the need for support resulting thereof and that operations to address the specific needs of refugees were selected and implemented quickly, in accordance with the need for immediate action. Moreover, ECA assessed that the supported operations were adapted to the specific situations and needs, and participants considered them useful and meeting their most urgent needs.

Finally, the report found that effectiveness of the assistance provided through CARE was, however, rarely measured and incomplete information on the use of CARE limits the assessment of its overall effectiveness.

• ECA Special Report No 5/2025 ''Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe: Increased flexibility but insufficient data hinders future assessment of effectiveness', 17 February 2025
• CARE - Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (Commission background information)