Catalonia will allocate 1.24 million euros to Cuba and Ukraine. The Government of Salvador Illa approved this Tuesday a humanitarian aid package for two territories affected by the global geopolitical crisis. The Executive Council gave the green light to an extraordinary contribution of 800,000 euros for Ukraine through the United Nations Humanitarian Fund and activated a new aid line for Cuba endowed with 440,000 euros aimed at alleviating the food and energy crisis the island is going through.
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In the case of Ukraine, the Catalan Executive will channel the 800,000 euros through the Humanitarian Fund for Ukraine managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). According to the Government, the contribution will serve to cover urgent needs of the Ukrainian population, especially ahead of the upcoming winter campaign. The document states that the Executive wants to “thus reaffirm its commitment to the European project, multilateralism, international law, and peace.”
The Generalitat will complement that financial contribution with the sending of electric generators and other critical resources to Ukrainian regional governments. The material will be delivered through the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA), a cooperation network between local and regional authorities that has been working in Ukraine since before the Russian invasion and has become one of the European actors involved in the country’s reconstruction.
The agreement approved by the Government also includes strengthening institutional cooperation with regions considered a priority, such as Zaporizhzhia, and promoting programs to strengthen the administrative capacities of Ukrainian local authorities, especially in areas linked to a future European integration of the country. The Generalitat argues that the regions are “indispensable actors for a cohesive governance model and in reconstruction processes.”
In parallel, the Catalan Executive activated a new humanitarian aid line for Cuba, the first of this kind in more than 15 years. The plan will mobilize 440,000 euros, of which 290,000 will be allocated to the United Nations World Food Programme to strengthen food security in Havana through community dining rooms. The remaining 150,000 euros will serve to support entities already working on the ground in collaboration with the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation.
The Government justified the measure due to the “serious economic, social, and energy crisis” that Cuba is going through and explicitly pointed to the U.S. “economic blockade” as one of the factors worsening the situation. The document states that the crisis translates into “widespread shortages of food, medicine, and fuel” and the deterioration of basic services.
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