"Our first priority is to act on the refugee crisis as a Union; the European Commission has been consistently and continuously working for a coordinated European response on the refugees and migration front.
Today we have adopted concrete operational measures to mark the way forward; President Juncker will present these measures to our Heads of State and Government tonight.
As Commissioner for Regional Policy, I want to underline that large amounts of funding are already available for Member States under the 2014-2020 programmes. They are able to finance a wide range of actions to support the effective integration of migrants and refugees.
These actions could be investments in social, health, education, housing and childcare infrastructure; regeneration of deprived urban areas; actions to reduce spatial and educational isolation of migrants; business start-ups; and others. Where so desired, these actions could even be packaged into an integrated urban development programme. 20 billion euro from the European Regional Development Fund are earmarked for inclusive growth measures under the 2014-2020 programming period.
Furthermore, as I already announced, we are exploring how our funds could further contribute to addressing the migration challenge in the framework of cross border cooperation programmes and macro-regional strategies.
Of course, it is very much up to Member States to see what types of investment they need. In some cases, perhaps some of these actions were not such a priority when the programmes were being prepared a year or so ago.
Now, if Member States need these types of investments, I invite them to speak to me and my services immediately – we are completely open to changing programmes in order to adapt to new circumstances."