Germany, Slovakia and Finland will receive an additional €496 million under REACT-EU to support the healthcare sector, young people, workers, jobseekers, and others in need, including those who are fleeing Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
- 06 July 2022
In Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate will receive €6.4 million under the European Social Fund to support the labour market integration of Ukrainian refugees by complementing the services already provided by employment agencies and job centres. Moreover, local young people will be helped to obtain apprenticeship opportunities, by promoting the digital transformation of education and training, and by supporting self-employed people, micro-entrepreneurs and workers in transition.
€66.5 million for Slovakia will support the country's social system, study programmes of future social workers, to extend social services, reinforce gender equality and non-discrimination in education, and to offer more counselling to unemployed people in need. Furthermore, under the Fund for Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), €22.9 million will be invested in food assistance including food vouchers that will be handed out to those who have left Ukraine because of the war. I
n Finland, Åland will receive €197,000 to help people facing difficulties in finding employment after the pandemic, in particular young people, and to support the seafaring industry and the service sectors.
The 2021 tranche of REACT-EU had already allocated €40 billion, and up to €10 billion more are available this year. To help Member States host and integrate Ukrainian refugees the Commission has paid €3.5 billion of pre-financing payments to Member States under REACT-EU since March 2022.
The Commission also presented recently the FAST-CARE proposal to ensure that pre-financing payments are increased by an additional €3.5 billion to be paid in 2022 and 2023.