Reception of Ukrainians in France: what to remember from the report of the Court of Auditors

Europe 1 with AFP 3:49 p.m., February 28, 2023

The reception of Ukrainians in 2022 cost France around 630 million euros, the Court of Auditors estimated on Tuesday, exceptional care which represents on average double the budget allocated to "classic" asylum seekers.

The nearly 115,000 displaced Ukrainians who have arrived in France over the past year have been received in "satisfactory conditions", thanks to the unprecedented "temporary protection" regime which has enabled them to settle freely while benefiting from an unprecedented burst of social rights: access to work, health services, schooling for children, emergency accommodation, etc.

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"This responsiveness was not without price," wrote the financial jurisdiction in a flash audit report made public on Tuesday.

"The total expenditure incurred by the State and Social Security for the temporary protection of Ukrainians should amount to approximately 634 million euros for the year 2022."

A budget essentially made up of the allowance paid to these displaced persons (218.46 million) and their accommodation (253.27 million).

The significant cost of the allowance paid to displaced persons

The Court of Auditors observed a significant additional cost in this expense, which is mainly "the urgency" in which the reception had to be organized.

Thus, the “unit cost” for a Ukrainian represented in 2022 “almost double that of the systems offered to traditional asylum seekers”, underlined the Court.

In detail, for accommodation, "the cost per place and per day amounted to 38 euros on national average, where the sheltering of common law (...) is on average less than 20 euros and (lower) than 18 euros in the national system for the reception of asylum seekers", she continued.

Exceptional measures, such as the placement of hundreds of people at the end of March on board a ferry from the Corsica Linea company off the coast of Marseille, caused the bill to explode: 71 euros per day and per seat.

Asking for a "contribution" from the Ukrainians?

In the future, "the challenges of hotel accommodation will have to be reassessed", for example by considering a "contribution" by Ukrainians to their accommodation "as soon as (they) have sufficient resources", in particular when they work, wrote the Court of Auditors.

The administrative authority has also recommended "better supervision of citizen accommodation", on which, according to it, 40% of the weight of reception weighs.

For now, "the human and financial capacity to maintain long-term care is in question," she said.

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Since the end of 2022, nearly 900 homes hosting displaced Ukrainians have received financial aid from the State, around 150 euros per month, which represented an envelope of some 786,000 euros, the Ministry of Housing told AFP last week. .

Problem, ruled the Court, "the ability to maintain compensation" is "not guaranteed".

A reception not yet budgeted for in the 2023 finance law

Not to mention that "an unmeasurable number of these accommodations have been organized without intermediaries, near stations or on social networks, without any control being possible".

The Court also regretted that the reception of Ukrainians is not yet budgeted for in the 2023 finance law, which "deprives all stakeholders of the visibility necessary to organize the means to act".

The government indicated on the occasion of the first anniversary of the conflict, on February 24, that a "small flow" of a few hundred Ukrainians per month continues to arrive.

In one year, 80% of Ukrainian women have settled in France, accompanied by 20,000 children who are now in school.