Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows

This page gives a general presentation in two parts:

Part I covers the latest developments which occurred within the recent years.
Part II gives a general view of the matter concerned.
Part III National websites including publications of the list of beneficiaries.

I) Latest developments

NEW [24/02/2009]: The 2008 call for proposals for Community Actions of the External Borders Fund is open. The deadline for submission of the proposal is 8 April 2009.

NEW [24/02/2009]: On 15 December 2008, the Commission has adopted the Annual Work Programme for the Community Actions [112 KB] within the framework of the External Borders Fund, that specifies the objectives, the priorities for 2008, the funding conditions such as the maximum rate of co-financing of the costs of the projects, eligibility, exclusion, selection, and award criteria and other conditions related to the management of the funds.

The main objective of the framework programme is to address the issue of a fair share of responsibilities between Member States in the introduction of integrated management of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union and from the implementation of common policies on asylum and immigration. It will provide financial support to Member States in proportion to the efforts they undertake for the benefit of the Community as a whole.

The framework programme consists of four financial instruments:

the External Borders Fund (applicable from 1 January 2007)
the Integration Fund (applicable from 1 January 2007)
the Return Fund (applicable from 1 January 2008)
the European Refugee Fund, (applicable from 1 January 2008). The current European Refugee Fund will run till 31 December 2007.

ach instrument is based on its own legal basis under Title IV of the EC Treaty and the beneficiary states vary because of the Protocols on the Schengen acquis, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark.

II) General context

To know more about the launch of the Framework Programme, you will find below information about the main activities and the planning for 2007:

Preparations for the implementation
- Community strategic guidelines for all four Funds.
- Estimates of the amounts to be allocated to the Member States from the total annual appropriations for all four Funds.
- Implementing rules for all four Funds.
- Guidance on the description of management and control systems.
Information to parties interested in the framework programme
- Actions to be managed at the initiative of the Commission.
- Actions under the annual programmes of the Member States.

Preparations for the implementation

The Commission has launched informal consultations with the Member States on the preparation for the implementation of the instruments in October last year. The consultations are ongoing and relate to the following:

Community strategic guidelines for all four Funds.

According to the (not yet adopted) Decisions the Commission should adopt the strategic guidelines relating to the multi-annual programming period for all four Funds on 31 May 2007 at the latest. The strategic guidelines should be adopted after consultation of a Committee, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.
Once the strategic guidelines are known, Member States can start designing their multi-annual programmes.

Estimates of the amounts to be allocated to the Member States from the total annual appropriations for all four Funds.

According to the (not yet adopted) Decisions the Commission should make this information available to the Member States by 1 July of each year for the following year. In other words, the 2008 estimates should be available by 1 July 2007. The 2007 estimates for the External Borders Fund and the Integration Fund, on the other hand, should be available by 31 May 2007.
Only when the estimates are available, Member States can develop an indicative financial plan for their multi-annual programmes
The estimates are done on the basis of objective criteria set out in the Decisions. It requires data from Member States and Eurostat, the Statistical Office from the EU.

Implementing rules for all four Funds.

The Commission intends to adopt Commission Decisions laying down rules on the eligibility of expenditure and definitions to clarify the scope of the tasks entrusted to the different authorities operating in the national management and control systems, including models for submitting Member States documents to the Commission.
Informal consultations on the implementing rules are ongoing.

Guidance on the description of management and control systems.

According to the (not yet adopted) Decisions Member States should submit descriptions of the management and control systems together with their draft multi-annual programmes.
The Commission has raised awareness with the Member States on the development of adequate management and control systems and invited Member States to start their internal reflection on the designation of the authorities to be entrusted with the implementation tasks for the national programmes (namely a responsible authority, an audit authority and a certifying authority).

The overall amount foreseen for the framework programme “Solidarity and management of migration flows” is 4020,37 million € for the period 2007-2013.