Mayors and Presidents of regions appeal to Commissioner Ferreira for fair distribution of funds.
“The current wave of refuges predominantly consists of women, children and people who need special care. Mayors and Presidents of regions need additional money here and now to support refugees from Ukraine. It is not enough to shift money at the regional level. My region already committed 98% of funds under the current programme. We urgently need transparent redistribution mechanisms from national and EU level.” Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the EPP-CoR Group made these remarks during a study visit to Poland organised by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) to discuss how to support Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) hosting refugees.
Geblewicz who is President of West Pomerania Region told Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms that all Polish LRAs should be treated fairly when distributing EU funds to help them host refugees, reflecting the level of solidarity shown on the ground.
Commissioner Ferreira payed respect to cities and regions receiving refugees. “Not being the most developed EU regions adds great value to what is given. She added that the European Commission will further simplify Cohesion Policy regulations to allow for immediate reallocation of available funds to urgent expenditures associated with welcoming of refugees through front-loading of funds for liquidity, fixed amount per refugee and 100% EU co-financing.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the European Committee of the Regions called for a Ukrainian Refugees Local Facility to reduce red tape and fast track the deployment of funds by regions and cities. He explained that at the moment there are some 5 different EU funding tools to address the crisis with different procedures and with different departments handling the tools.
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Chair of the CoR Working Group on Ukraine said that all war crimes committed must be documented in order to be properly judged by international judicial institutions established for this purpose. She also called for the introduction of mechanisms to fight human trafficking. “Refugees from Ukraine must feel safe on EU territory”. Addressing journalists, the Mayor of Gdansk stressed the need of tangible programmes to help in the integration of refugees.
Konrad Fijołek, Mayor of the city of Rzeszów said “We feel responsible for our friends in Ukraine. LRA employees are working with NGOs and residents to help refugees. But we need your help to offer permanent care.”
Adrian Teban, Mayor of Cugir explained that LRAs in Romania cannot cover all accommodation and transport costs. “We need support to help refugees travelling across Europe. We need a flexible and simple mechanism to shift funds where they are mostly needed.”
Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Łódź said “War in Ukraine is a humanitarian crisis but also affects all cities and regions in terms of their economic situation. We need to extend the eligibility period of EU funding until the end of 2024 to finish ongoing investments.”
Marek Wozniak, President of Wielkopolska Region spoke on the physiological support that children and women fleeing the war need. He added that this is a war about values such as freedom and democracy. Furthermore he said that Eastern partnership has instilled European values but we need to also ensure security for these countries.