The European Parliament adopted by 576 votes to 3, with 13 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2022 of the European Union for the financial year 2022 – financing reception costs of people fleeing Ukraine.
As a reminder, the Commission proposes that the Union budget contribute a total amount of EUR 400 million under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) to the financing of the first reception and registration costs of people fleeing Ukraine, following the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression being carried out by the Russian Federation against Ukraine since 24 February 2022.
Draft amending budget No 3/2022 is one of the elements being used to reach the proposed EUR 400 million, together with amendments to the AMIF and BMVI Thematic Facility work programmes for 2021-2022 making an amount of EUR 124 million available in the form of emergency assistance under each programme, and with the proposal for a budgetary authority transfer (DEC 11/2022) for a reinforcement of the AMIF by EUR 52.2 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 74 million in payment appropriations.
The net impact of draft amending budget No 3/2022 on expenditure amounts to an increase of EUR 99.8 million in commitment appropriations for the AMIF, and an increase of EUR 176 million in payment appropriations comprised of EUR 76 million for AMIF and EUR 100 million for the BMVI.
Given that it is Parliament’s commitment to activate all available Union budget instruments to continue providing the strongest possible economic and financial support to Ukraine and to the people fleeing the war in Ukraine, it called for increased solidarity between Member States and common measures in the response to the flow of millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine, including the reallocation of refugees. The Commission is urged to use funds destined to cross-border cooperation programmes between Ukraine and Member States for the period 2021-2027 to increase the resilience of communities living at the border in the light of the ongoing refugee crisis.
Moreover, the resolution recalled that Parliament had secured a EUR 1 billion reinforcement of the BMVI in the MFF negotiations to enable the programme to deliver fully on its objectives. However, it strongly regretted that the Commission has opted to reduce the BMVI envelope to offset the reinforcement of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction by EUR 63 million and Europol by EUR 185 million over the course of the current MFF. Members stands by their position that fresh tasks for agencies require fresh resources and should not come at the expense of existing programmes or agencies.
Members underlined that neither the NGEU Fund, its Recovery and Resilience Fund component, nor the flexibility under the current MFF are sufficient to fully cover the financial needs generated by the war in Ukraine. Given that the economic and social situation in the Union is expected to deteriorate further in the coming months, Member States and the Commission are called on to urgently establish the necessary solidarity and compensation mechanisms.
Parliament is deeply concerned that the MFF is already pushed to its limits and is not fit to continue addressing the multiple internal and external crises in a sustainable manner. It pointed to the need to increase the ceiling of Heading 4 in order to reflect the actual financial needs for the Union’s migration and border management. Therefore, it called on the Commission to conduct an in-depth review of the functioning of the current MFF and proceed with a legislative proposal for a comprehensive revision of the MFF as soon as possible and not later than the first quarter of 2023.