Romania has not allocated funds for Ukrainian refugees in 2024

Romanian authorities have not allocated any financial aid to Ukrainian refugees so far in 2024, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) has announced.

Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter in Romania received some financial support in February, but these were outstanding payments from the end of 2023, IGSU said.

Regarding expenses for January and February 2024, IGSU told Libertatea that “steps have been taken with higher-ranking structures to allocate necessary funds upon receiving requests from local public administration authorities”.

However, IGSU said it could not estimate when it would receive the requested amounts.

Aid for Ukrainian refugees was also delayed last year due to budget deficits, leading to protests by several dozen Ukrainian refugees in front of the Finance Ministry in November 2023.

Until April 2023, aid was provided through the “50/20” programme, which allocated 50 lei (€10) for accommodation and 20 lei for daily meals. This money was not given directly to refugees but transferred to Romanian hosts.

From May 2023, the government reduced the assistance to 750 lei (€150) per month for individuals and 2,000 lei (€402) per month for families, with an additional 600 lei (€120) per person for food expenses. Adults had to be registered with the county employment agencies, the Bucharest municipality, or employed in Romania, and children had to be enrolled in school to qualify for assistance.

According to the latest data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there were over 78,000 Ukrainians in Romania as of February 2024.

In an interview with Free Europe in May 2023, Ramona Chiriac, head of the European Commission Representation in Romania, mentioned that Bucharest also had access to European funds to deal with the problem.

At the EU level, Romania ranks eighth in terms of the number of Ukrainian refugees.

(Catalina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)

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