Brussels, 10/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 9 January, members of the European Parliament committee on civil liberties (LIBE) said EU member states will have to allocate more funding to improve their asylum systems and the integration of migrants. They adopted a compromise reached with the Council, a press release states. Under the new asylum, migration and integration fund (AMIF), it is suggested that there be minimum amounts spent on asylum and integration policies for 2014-2020. The same day, MEPs also endorsed the new internal security fund aimed at improving police cooperation, border surveillance and crime prevention.
The AMIF has a total budget of €3.1 billion and the EP and Council have agreed that €2.7 billion should be devoted to national programmes (of which €360 million should be for resettlement) and €385 million for Union initiatives, emergency and technical assistance and the European migration network, the committee says.
At least 20% of the €2.4 billion (€2.7 billion minus the resettlement funds) that member states will draw from the AMIF will be spent on measures to support legal migration and promote the effective integration of migrants. Member states will also have to allocate at least an additional 20% of the funds to asylum measures. EU countries will have to provide detailed explanations if they want to stay below these percentages. Countries facing “structural deficiencies in the area of accommodation, infrastructure and service” will not be able to spend less in the field of asylum.
Regarding solidarity measures, as Commissioner Cecilia Malmström had pointed out early December in her communication on the Lampedusa task force, member countries will receive a lump sum of €6,000 per refugee resettled, which can be increased up to €10,000 for vulnerable persons or persons coming from priority areas.
For the internal security fund, the LIBE committee adopted another compromise with the Council, setting its budget at €2.8 billion by 2020 (€1.5 billion will go to national programmes, €791 million to the management of migratory flows at the EU external borders, €154 million to the special transit regime and €264 million for Union emergency and technical assistance initiatives).
The money will be used to build infrastructure and systems needed at border crossing points. It will also fund the IT systems required by the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR), as well as actions aimed at the efficient management of migration flows, processing of visa applications and consular cooperation. The compromise also provides for spot checks to ensure that the money paid is used as it should be by the beneficiaries.
The whole package will be put to the vote early March during plenary session. In a statement attached to the compromise, EP representatives stressed that the compromise was far from meeting the ambitions initially set out but that the Council had very little wriggle room. The EP points out that it has worked to ensure that the right legal basis for the AMIF instrument be Article 80 of the treaty, which relates to the principle of solidarity and equitable sharing of responsibilities between member states, including at the financial level. The current basis is Articles 78 and 79 which organises competences in relation to common immigration policy. (SP/transl.jl)