Luxembourg, 08/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - Ministers of the interior from the Twenty Five agreed to continue European funding for refugees by doubling funding in this area. European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino underlined to the press that "this instrument is most important for sharing the burden" of asylum in Member States. Within the limitation of financial perspectives for 2007-13, the European fund for refugees is the second generation to befit from EUR 114 million on average a year as opposed to the EUR 54 million between 2000-04, declared the president of the Council, Michael McDowell from Ireland. The political agreement on continued European funding for refugees still has to be confirmed following the lifting of parliamentary reservations. The agreement was swiftly reached, given that it was only in February that the Commission had submitted its proposal to the Council (EUROPE 17 February).
The European Fund for Refugees is the second generation to support efforts from Member States to receive refugees as displaced persons, via co-financing of certain of their projects by the Community budget: reception of asylum seekers and the examination of their cases (shelter, medical care, social and legal assistance, education, interpreting), for the integration of refugees in the host Member State but also for the voluntary return of refugees to their regions of origin. The funding could also serve as an emergency measure when significant numbers of refugees arrive in the context of the European mechanism for temporary protection. Elsewhere, up to 7% of funding could be used for transnational action and European Commission launched projects.
As most of the delegations were opposed to it, the European Fund for Refugees will not be able to be used for resettlement projects, which could have been used to bring people needing protection come to the European Union. The European Commission had proposed opening up the refugees fund to this kind of funding. t is supported BY Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The European Commission proposed the launch of such resettlement programmes in a communication that it approved last Friday. Furthermore, the Council approved guidelines for the use by the European Commission of EUR 30 million for 2005 and 2006 intended for pilot projects for organising charter flights when expelling illegal immigrants (EUROPE of 23 January).