Brussels, 13/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Some of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) to help member states deal with refugees should be granted to the regions. This at least is the view of Rena Dourou, regional governor of Attica, and Eleni Marianou, secretary general of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR), who had come to Strasbourg on Tuesday 12 April to make the case with the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, for peripheral and maritime regions, in the front line of managing the refugee crisis.
At present, the money available under AMIF is granted directly to local NGOs without passing through the regions, although the latter have a much better overview of local actors, explained the CPMR secretary to this newsletter. She commented that the selected NGOs were not always tip top and it would make more sense, she said, to grant the available funding to the regions, which would then distribute it to local NGOs. At the very least, the secretary general said the regions should be incorporated in the NGO selection process.
She regretted that the regions were there, ready to take action, but are not being used by the European Commission. Marianou said that often, regions are forced to act without knowing whether they are overstepping their powers by using resources earmarked for other ends. Recently, the Spanish regional authorities of Valencia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Greek region of South-Aegeus to relocalise refugees. The secretary general said that Catalonia has even announced to relocate nearly 4,000 refugees from Greece, and some Scottish and Swedish regions are prepared to do likewise. A European source said that the problem was that the Spanish plan has not been given the approval of the central state and it is difficult to make progress because there isn't actually a Spanish government at the moment.
The Commission is looking more and more at action taken at local and regional level. Last week, regional Policy Commissioner Corina Cretu met leading figures from European capitals and cities, including Berlin and Paris, to discuss possible action to deal as a matter of urgency with the crisis sparked by the arrival of large numbers of refugees (see EUROPE 11525).
Last year, the Commissioner announced the possibility of reprogramming Structural and Investment Funds for the new and recent period, which met with a muted response from the main parties concerned (see EUROPE 11525). The regions that are part of CPMR feel that the Structural Funds are structural and therefore should properly be used to meet structural, rather than conjunctural, objectives, said the CPMR secretary general.
On another note, Marianou supports the Amsterdam Pact on urban policy (see EUROPE 11505), without having any great expectations. We'll have a fine document that won't respond to the needs on the ground, she said. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)