PURPOSE: proposal to establish the European Fund for the Integration of Third-country nationals for the period 2007-2013 as part of the General programme ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
CONTEXT: The Communication establishing a Framework programme on “Solidarity and the management of migration flows” is part of a coherent set of proposals aiming at providing an adequate support to an area of freedom, security and justice under the financial perspectives 2007-2013. Indeed, the three key objectives of freedom, security and justice are to be developed in parallel and to the same degree of intensity, thus allowing for a balanced approach, based on the principles of democracy, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and the rule of law. Each of these objectives is supported by a Framework programme, providing for the necessary coherence between relevant interventions in each policy area, and clearly linking political objectives and the resources available to support them. Furthermore, this structure represents a major simplification and rationalisation of existing financial support in the area of freedom, justice and security, thus allowing for greater flexibility in the allocation of priorities and increasing overall transparency.
The key objective for the “Solidarity and management of migration flows” general programme is as follows: to support the principle of solidarity in managing people flows by ensuring a fair share of responsibilities between Member States as concerns the financial burden arising from the introduction of an integrated management of the Union’s external borders and from the implementation of common policies on asylum and immigration.
This solidarity will support the implementation of Community legislation relating to four complementary dimensions of management of migration flows:
- integrated management of external borders, in order to ensure an equivalent and uniform level of protection at the external borders;
- asylum policy, as is already the case under the European Refugee Fund in order to support the development and implementation of a common European asylum policy based on solidarity between Member States and promote a balance in the efforts made by Member States in bearing the consequences of receiving refugees and displaced persons;
- fight against illegal immigration, and in particular the return of illegally resident third country nationals in the EU or persons irregularly migrating towards the EU;
- admission and integration of third country nationals, in particular as regards their social, civic and cultural integration, in order to enable them to settle and take actively part in all aspects of European societies.
Consequently, four Funds are set up as part of the framework programme.
(Please also see proposals under procedure references COD/2005/0046, CNS/2005/0047, and COD/2005/0049.)
CONTENT: Migration from third countries into the EU is a daily reality in each Member State . While the relative share of third country nationals varies considerably in Member States, all are confronted with the phenomenon of increasing ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity in their societies and the need to manage ‘intercultural relationships’. The successful integration of immigrants is both a matter of social cohesion and a prerequisite for economic efficiency. In the context of a relaunched Lisbon agenda, it is crucial to ensure integration of both established and future immigrants.
The six main policy objectives of the Fund are:
- Facilitation of the organization and implementation of admission procedures for migrants, by strengthening their integration component and anticipating the needs of third-country nationals;
- Contribution to the organisation and implementation of introduction programmes and activities for third country nationals, by way of capacity building, policy development and implementation;
- Increase of civic, cultural and political participation of third country nationals in the host society, in order to promote their active citizenship and recognition of fundamental values;
- Strengthening of the capacity of Member States’ public and private service providers to interact with third country nationals and their organizations and to answer in a better way the needs of different groups of third country nationals;
- Strengthening of the ability of the host society to adjust to increasing diversity by targeting integration actions at the host population;
-Increase of the capacity of Member States to develop, monitor and evaluate integration policies.
Besides a solidarity mechanism, the Fund also provides for a policy framework to support the exchange of experiences, cooperation and best practices between Member States, on the initiative of the Commission (“Community actions”), in particular in order to continue the encouragement of a more structured policy development.
The proposal goes on to discuss the allocation of resources:
- many Member States (and in particular the new Member States) would need to make some structural investments to successfully integrate third country nationals. Member States will be allocated a fixed amount each year. This amount will be higher for the period 2007 - 2013 for the states which acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004. Moreover, this amount will also be higher for Member States which accede to the European Union in the period 2007 – 2013 for the duration of the period 2007 - 2013 from the year after their accession.
- the bulk of the allocations to the Member States will be determined on the basis of a distribution key defining the relative share of Member States in relation to third country nationals legally staying within the EU. The distribution key consists of two components: one relating to stock data and the other to flow data of third country nationals. For the first component the average will be taken of the total number of third country nationals legally present in the Member State over a period of three years in order to smooth out any accidental, non representative increases or decreases. For the second component of the total number of third country nationals who have obtained an authorisation
to stay legally on the territory of the Member States (either under national or Community law) in the last three years will be added up. This total would then roughly correspond to the number of persons likely to benefit from integration measures for newcomers, assuming that introduction programmes and other ‘welcome’ activities may occur after the year in which the persons were admitted and may involve a series of courses taking place over a period of one or two years.
Since the Commission proposes that the Fund focuses mainly on third country nationals having recently arrived and been admitted by a Member State to reside in its territory (‘newcomers’), the second component would be the most important one and would therefore be weighed more than the first (60%). The purpose is to direct the Fund to support for those Member States which have only recently started to welcome migrants or to those which are likely to become immigration countries in the period covered by these financial perspectives.
The emphasis on newcomers should be reviewed.
Programming is organised on a multiannual level, with two programming periods: 2007-2010 and 2011-2013.
The financial allocation for the Fund for the 2007-2013 period is EUR 1.771million.
This proposal is one of four draft decisions which comprise the framework programme “Solidarity and management of migration flows”. (Please refer to COM/2005/0123). Four Funds are set up as part of the framework programme.
The proposal on the Integration Fund, along with the draft decisions establishing the External Border Fund (COD/2005/0047), the European Refugee Fund (COD/2005/0046) and the Return Fund (COD/2005/0049) provides for the creation of mechanisms ensuring a coherent approach of the programming, implementation and evaluation of the four instruments.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS :
Budget lines : Financial Perspectives 2007 - 2013: Heading 3.
Duration of the action and of the financial impact: 2007-2013.
Financial Resources :
Summary of commitment appropriations and payment appropriations (totals in EUR million to 3 decimal places):
Operational expenditure:
European Refugee Fund : 1.102,800;
Emergency measures: 68,600;
Integration of Third country Nationals: 1.756,000;
European Return Fund: 749,000;
External Borders Fund: 2.135,000.
Administrative expenditure within reference amount:
Technical and administrative assistance (NDA):
European Refugee Fund: 11,200;
Emergency measures: 1,400;
Integration of Third country Nationals: 15,000;
European Return Fund: 10,000;
External Borders Fund: 17,000.
Total reference amount:
Commitment and payment appropriations : 5.866,000.
Administrative expenditure not included within reference amount:
Human resources and associated expenditure (NDA): 77,139.
Administrative costs, other than human resources and associated costs, not included in reference amount (NDA): 5,292.
Total indicative financial cost of intervention including cost of human resources: 5.948,431.
Co-financing details : Revenue in absolute terms: EUR 3.7 million in 2007 rising to EUR 12.5 million by 2013.
Staff to be assigned to management of the action using existing and/or additional resources (number of posts/FTEs): total staff in 2007 will be 70,25 rising to 126 by 2013.
Total Administrative expenditure, other than human resources and associated costs (NOT included in reference amount): 68,015.