Brussels, 08/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On 8 October 2015, the Council approved additional financial assistance from the 2015 EU budget in response to the refugee crisis. This puts into effect the commitments made by the European Council on 23 September 2015..
The Council accepted Draft Amending Budget No. 7 for 2015 which strengthens the EU support under the European agenda on migration by €401.3 million in commitments and €57.0 million in payments. The money will be put in place this year in response to the refugee crisis.
The European Parliament now needs to give the go-ahead to the appropriations.
This includes an increase of +€100 million in commitments to finance emergency assistance provided under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, and the Internal Security Fund; €300 million in commitments for the European Neighbourhood Instrument to provide assistance to third countries hosting refugees from Syria through the Madad Trust Fund and so the fund can have €500 million of aid; + €55.7 million in payments for humanitarian aid; 120 new posts in the three EU agencies working on migration-related areas: Frontex (+60), the European Asylum Support Office (+30) and Europol (+30); this entails additional costs of €1.3 million in commitments and payments in 2015.
The extra commitment appropriations are partially covered by redeployments to the tune of €70.5 million and therefore the net effect of this amending budget on the general 2015 budget is an increase of commitments totalling €330.7 million. The Council of Ministers also gave the go-ahead to a separate proposal to use the Flexibility Instrument in 2015 (to the tune of €66.1 million) to cover the amount that cannot be financed under heading 3 (Security and Citizenship). The payment appropriation requirements are therefore wholly covered by redeployments.
The Council also gave its approval to a request to pay commitment appropriations from the emergency aid reserve (a transfer of €175 million in commitments and €14.3 million in payments), to bring humanitarian aid in the region for refugees in the affected region to €200 million. The aim of the transfer is to cover the most urgent needs of the population in Syria, displaced persons in Iraq and within the refugee hosting and transit countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and the Western Balkans.
This is the second time this year that the Council has increased the EU budget for migration-related measures. In response to migratory pressures in the Mediterranean the Council on 19 June 2015 backed draft amending budget no 5, which mobilised €89 million in commitments and €76.6 million in payments from the 2015 budget. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)