Brussels, 17/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - By written procedure on Wednesday 16 March, the Council approved the draft amending budget no. 1 for 2016, which sets in place the budgetary structure needed to create the new emergency aid instrument within the Union (see EUROPE 11513).
€100 million in commitment appropriations and €80.2 million in payment appropriations have been mobilised to cover immediate financing needs under the new emergency aid mechanism. The Commission is taking the money from the 'asylum, migration and integration' (AMIF) fund, which comes under heading 3 (security and citizenship) of the multi-annual financial framework (MAFF). It will monitor the execution of the 2016 budget and, if necessary, propose payments and/or amending budgets to mobilise the funds required for the AMIF fund and the emergency aid instrument.
On 15 March, the Council adopted the regulation instituting this emergency aid mechanism to help Greece, which is overwhelmed by a deluge of refugees, as a priority (see EUROPE 11512). The regulation entered into force on Wednesday 16 March, the day on which the act was published in the Official Journal of the EU. This will now enable the Commission to use the funds (from heading 3) for emergency aid, pending the adoption of the amending budget (the EP is to vote on 14 April).
Europol. The draft budget increases the staffing levels of the European anti-terrorism centre within Europol, following the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015. The budget to pay these new staff (25 additional jobs for the staffing table, five contractual agents and five national seconded experts) comes to €2 million. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)