“The Commission paid more than 3.5 billion euros in advance to Member States to help them manage the arrival in their territory of people fleeing the war in Ukraine”, said the community executive in a statement.

Carried out as part of the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and Territories in Europe (REACT-EU) program, which expands crisis response measures and measures to remedy the aftermath of the crisis, the payments allocate €63.7 million to Portugal.

Among the Member States that received the most funds are Poland (562 million), Italy (452 ​​million), Romania (450 million), Spain (434 million) and Hungary (299 million).

After the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the European Commission mobilized efforts to support civilians fleeing the war and EU member states welcoming them.

The European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira said that “the EU stands in solidarity with Ukraine against the invasion by Russia, as well as with the Member States, in their solidarity effort to welcome people who are fleeing the war”.

“Today we see another concrete result of our solidarity with the mobilisation of cohesion funds to where they are most needed”, said Elisa Ferreira.

European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit noted that “with these advance payments, member states can provide food, housing, healthcare, education, help with access to employment and more to those in need”.