Cohesion's action for refugees in Europe : increased flexibility but insufficient data hinders future assessment of effectiveness; Special report 05, 2025

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). We examined whether member states used CARE and the cohesion policy funds available to address the needs of the refugees. We concluded that CARE helped member states use the available cohesion policy funding to address the crisis. However, we found that the monitoring of cohesion policy funding does not capture the entire support and the use of CARE. We recommend 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. ECA special report pursuant to Article 287(4), second subparagraph, TFEU.