The government is allocating 2 billion kronor from budgets allocated to support Syria and other countries to receive Ukrainian refugees.
According to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, the Danish government is rearranging priorities to provide the necessary funds for receiving Ukrainian refugees. This means that developing countries will be deprived of millions of Danish kroner in aid that they receive from Denmark, which will instead go towards receiving Ukrainian refugees. Minister of Development Aid Flemming Møller Mortensen called for rearranging priorities and “being as considerate as possible.”.
The Danish government found that approximately 2 billion kroner, originally allocated for development projects in 2022, will now be reallocated according to priority. Some of this money, intended for developing countries like Syria, Bangladesh, and Mali, will be used by the government to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.
“The situation in Ukraine requires special responsibility from Denmark, because we are a local area, and this is necessary, … we ourselves have become a local area. This means that we are using humanitarian efforts and development aid funds to help with the refugee crisis that exists in Denmark and in our immediate region,” said Development Aid Minister Flemming Møller Mortensen.
The following are some projects that should be eliminated from some of the funds allocated in the 2022 budget:
- Various migration efforts – including 230 million kroner to promote a “fair and humane asylum system” and 150 million kroner for “reception of future refugees”.
- 328 million kroner from the Danida Sustainable Infrastructure Project (DSIF).
- 100 million kroner for “climate, conflict and irregular migration” in Africa.
- 12.6 million kronor from the project to promote democracy and human rights in China, regional cooperation in Asia and Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.
- Health projects around the world should also be dispensed with.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The minister says that helping Ukrainians is part of a development policy strategy, because Ukraine is “a region close to Denmark.”.
This shows that field programs in Syria and neighboring regions will lose 50 million kroner, Burkina Faso 157 million kroner, Mali 70 million kroner, and Bangladesh will lose 100 million Danish kroner.
“"As much as possible"”
The nearly 2 billion Danish kroner development aid package for Ukrainian refugees is based on the assumption that 20,000 refugees have already arrived in Denmark. However, the actual number will be much higher, as Foreign and Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye stated at a press conference today that the Danish government is preparing to receive 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Read also | Just in: The Danish government is preparing to receive 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
The Minister for Development Assistance said the government had tried to take money from initiatives where the consequences would be minimal: “We have been working closely over the last 24 hours to see how we can reprioritize, taking into account as much as possible of the development policy strategy, the agreements we have with our partners, as well as the agreements we have internationally.”.
