The European Parliament adopted by 592 votes to 75, with 41 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2015 of the European Union for the financial year 2015 - Responding to migratory pressures.
Draft amending budget No 5/2015 aims to reinforce the Union's resources to manage migration and refugee flows, following recent tragedies in the Mediterranean and the increase in the dimension of migratory flows.
In this context, the increase in commitment appropriations amounts to EUR 75 722 000 and in payment appropriations amounting to EUR 69 652 000 is fully redeployed from the Galileo programme, leaving the overall level of payment appropriations in the 2015 budget unchanged.
The increase proposed for the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX) amounts to a total of EUR 26.8 million in both commitment and payment appropriations, partially stemming from additional appropriations through Draft amending budget No 5/2015 and partially from redeployment within Chapter 18 02 (Internal Security) due to the closure of old files under the External Borders Fund.
Draft amending budget No 5/2015 also increases the staffing level of 3 agencies, namely 16 additional posts for FRONTEX, 4 posts for the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and 3 posts for the European Police Office (Europol).
Whilst welcoming the willingness of all institutions to increase the budget appropriations related to migration and asylum, given the obvious and urgent need, Parliament recalled that in its reading of the 2015 budget in October 2014, it had already called for substantially higher appropriations on these budget lines and additional staff for the agencies concerned.
Limited amounts: Parliament regretted the limited amount of the increases proposed in Draft amending budget No 5/2015, which do not correspond to the actual needs given the ongoing and probably worsening crisis in the Mediterranean, the growing risk of an increase in refugees from Ukraine and the necessity to address migratory challenges in general.
Recalling that the financial burden related to the emergency has so far fallen mainly on the national budgets of the southern coastal states of the Union, Parliament regretted the divisions which have emerged between Member States in the Council on the Commission proposal contained in the "European Agenda on Migration". It recalled that, due to the nature of the migration phenomenon, the emergency can be more effectively handled at Union level.
Moreover, Parliament stressed that, given the large number of arrivals on the Union’s southern shores, the increasing role EASO has to play in the management of asylum, and the clear call for support in frontloading reception conditions, the proposal to increase EASO staff by only 4 is clearly insufficient. Therefore, it requested appropriate EASO staffing and budget for 2016 in order to allow EASO to effectively fulfil its tasks and operations.
Better evaluation of the agency’s needs: Parliament stated that the budgetary impact and the additional tasks of the measures presented as part of the EU Agenda on Migration and the EU Agenda on Security with regard to Europol should be assessed in detail by the Commission to allow the European Parliament and the Council to properly adjust Europol’s budgetary and staff needs. It underlined the need to ensure an appropriate budget and level of staffing for Europol for 2016.
The Commission is therefore called upon to carry out, in the context of the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework, an evaluation, as precisely as possible, of the needs of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund until 2020 including a sufficient increase in appropriations.
Parliament noted furthermore that Draft amending budget No 5/2015 does not foresee additional overall payment appropriations in the 2015 budget, but only reverts once more to the redeployment of already existing resources. It insisted that the redeployment from Galileo needs to be duly compensated for in the 2016 budget whilst affirming the willingness to adopt Draft amending budget No 5/2015 as soon as possible as presented by the Commission, given the urgency of the situation.
Consequently, Parliament approved the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2015.