The European Parliament adopted by 575 votes to 4, with 3 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 laying down general provisions on the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management and amending Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 establishing the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 establishing the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.
The European Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, taking over the Commission proposal.
The proposal aims to help Member States deal with the consequences of the war in Ukraine by maximising the scope of use of Home Affairs funds, extending the eligibility period and unblocking access to unspent earmarked resources, thus avoiding the loss of unused funding due to decommitment.
Specifically, the amendments to Regulations (EU) No 514/2014, (EU) No 516/2014 and (EU) 2021/1147 aim to:
- extend the implementation period of the Home Affairs Funds 2014-2020 by one year to allow the Member States to fully use any unspent amounts from those programmes, and, if necessary, to swiftly revise the implementation of their programmes as needed to address the unforeseen challenges arising from the invasion of Ukraine;
- unblock access to unspent earmarked resources under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund - AMIF (2014-2020) to enable Member States to better address the increased pressure on their asylum and migration management systems resulting from the invasion of Ukraine;
- allow Member States and other public or private donors, during the 2021-2027 programming period, to make additional financial contributions to asylum and migration management, in the form of external assigned revenue. That external assigned revenue is to constitute a dedicated contribution from Member States and other public or private donors to finance specific items of expenditure under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for 2021-2027.
The support provided under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for the period 2014-2020 and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for the period 2021-2027 should be complementary to actions financed under other EU funds, in particular under the Cohesion Policy, in order to maximise the impact of the available funding.
This Regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.