Brussels, 09/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 March, the European Commission adopted a draft amending budget creating the budget lines needed for an instrument to be set up to provide emergency aid within the EU.
This new instrument (on which political agreement has been reached, see other article), intended to provide Greece with assistance to the tune of €300 million in 2016 to cope with the massive influx of migrants and refugees, will be funded under heading 3, “security and citizenship” of the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020. Funding this instrument is proving a bit of a brain-teaser. In the 2016 budget, there are no margins available under the expenditure ceiling of heading 3. The Commission believes it “premature” to seek new money from the contingency margin (amounting to 0.03% of EU gross national income). The other traditional flexibility instrument has already been fully used up for 2016.
First instalment of €100 million. The Commission proposes, therefore, in its draft amending budget to “make a first tranche of €100 million in commitment appropriations available” to cover the immediate funding needs of the instrument while “awaiting a further needs assessment for the year as a whole”. The Commission says it will use all necessary measures to address the immediate needs until the new instrument and the proposed amending budget come into effect. To find the €100 million, it proposes making an adjustment of the funding currently available under the asylum, migration and integration fund (AMIF). AMIF needs will be re-assessed in the course of the year to try to find the additional €200 million promised. “If necessary, appropriations will be transferred from other budget lines and/or proposed to be made available through a new draft amending budget”, the Commission says. The new instrument will also need €200 million in 2017 and the same amount in 2018. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)