Which objective(s) does the Commission pursue?

The Asylum and Migration Fund will contribute to an EU migration policy that is robust, realistic and fair. A policy that acknowledges the needs of host societies and EU citizens and works closely with partners worldwide. The fund will ensure that the EU continues to fulfil its obligations to those in need of international protection, facilitates returning those persons who have no right to stay and supports solutions that replace irregular and uncontrolled flows with safe and well-managed pathways. Only comprehensive migration management, grounded on the principles of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, will deliver sustainable results. This includes an adequate distribution of Union funding to ensure that Member States that are most affected have sufficient capacity to address the challenges they are confronted with,  for the benefit of the EU as a whole. In this context, the Commission proposal takes into account the ongoing efforts in reforming the Common European Asylum System and the negotiations on the Dublin Regulation and the Union Resettlement Framework.

The success of the EU's migration management also relies on effective integration policies. This proposal will support reception and early integration measures to third-country nationals legally staying in the EU that are generally implemented in the early stage of integration in the period after arrival on EU territory. Examples of integration measures tailor-made to the needs of third-country nationals are actions promoting self-empowerment of third-country nationals through language training and civic orientation courses, providing advice and assistance to third-country nationals in areas such as housing, means of subsistence, administrative and legal guidance, psychological care and health including through one-stop shops for integration. The fund will also support Member States in developing horizontal measures such as capacity building,   exchanges with the host society,   awareness raising campaigns or cooperation and mutual learning between Member States on the integration of third country nationals legally staying in the EU territory.

The fund will also contribute financially to an effective return policy that is an essential part of a well-managed migration system within the Union. It is also a necessary complement to a credible legal migration and asylum policy, and an important tool in the fight against irregular migration.

The fund will support and encourage efforts by the Member States with a view to an effective implementation of the Return Directive, with a  more swift return system going hand-in-hand with the respect of the procedures and standards that allow Europe to ensure a  humane and dignified treatment of returnees and a  proportionate use of coercive measures, in line with fundamental rights and the principle of non-refoulement - a fundamental principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. For sustainable return policies,  the fund will support an integrated and coordinated approach to return management and cooperation with third countries to meet their obligations by offering support such as capacity building for the management of returns,  information and awareness campaigns, and support for reintegration measures.

The Commission proposal on the Asylum and Migration Fund (AMF) is subject to amendments by the Council and the European Parliament, since negotiations/trilogues were expected to take place October 2019-December 2020. 

Estimated savings and benefits

The new regulatory framework for the 2021-27 programming period foresees a number of major simplifications.

The fragmentation of the current rules governing the different EU funds managed jointly by EU and the Member States – shared management has made the life of the authorities managing programmes complicated and discouraged potential project promoters from applying for different sources of EU funding. This has been particularly relevant in areas where complementarity between different EU Funds is needed.

The proposed Common Provision Regulation (CPR) for 2021-2027, laying down the implementation rules for shared management funds, including the Asylum and Migration fund, aims at developing a coordinated and harmonised implementation of Union funds. The proposed regulation is a clear step forward in terms of achieving a single rulebook for funds under shared management, which is a demand of beneficiaries and programme authorities and has been identified as a clear issue to be addressed. The single rulebook is even more important taking into account that migration and security are not only covered by the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument but also by the Cohesion Policy Funds. This approach brings clear improvements to decreasing the administrative burden.

Even though the fund's specific regulation will add certain provisions necessary to cater for the particularities of individual funds, the single rulebook approach will provide at least the following benefits for funds such as Asylum and Migration Fund:

• Alignment of rules facilitates access to funds, simplifies implementation and reduces risk of errors;

• Risk of implementation delays is reduced by providing templates and implementation rules upfront;

• There will be only one strategic document, the Partnership Agreement (PA), per Member State covering seven shared management funds to steer negotiations on programming;

• A common approach will give a push for the use of simplified cost options;

• Technical assistance will be reimbursed by using a flat rate without requesting supporting documents;

• Time consuming, laborious designation procedure for the managing/responsible authority is not required anymore;

• Audit burden is reduced due to risk-based approach requiring less audit for well-functioning systems;

• Reporting from Member States to the Commission is based on aggregated data instead of reporting on all financial transactions at project level which will reduce reporting burden;

• Payment system between Member States and the Commission is streamlined and simplified, for instance by decoupling accounts from payment claims and by accepting aggregated financial data as basis for interim payment to Member States.

Audit and control procedures are simplified. In the beginning of the programming period, there will be no need to repeat the time-consuming designation process of the authorities as in the 2014-2020 period. Member States can rollover the existing implementation system. For programmes with a well-functioning management and control system and a low error rate, the Commission proposes to rely more on the national control procedures in place. The single audit principle is extended. This means that beneficiaries of the funds should only be subject to a single check rather than multiple, potentially not fully coordinated, audits.

Synergies and Complementarities.The variety of elements of migration management requires a coordinated approach by a number of Union funding instruments that would support the implementation of the external and internal aspects of the Union policy. The Union external instruments have a key role to play in addressing the root causes of migration, ensuring access to international protection, enhancing border management and pursuing efforts in the fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking of human beings, support the implementation of the return actions as well as the management of the Union legal migration policy. Measures in and in relation to third countries supported through the Fund should be implemented in full synergy and coherence and should complement other actions outside the Union supported through the Union’s external financing instruments.

The European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund Plus also include important provisions to cover the integration of third-country nationals while this fund will rather focus on early integration measures. Other programmes such as the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and Erasmus+ will also strengthen the provisions dealing with migrants and refugees. All these instruments will have to work in coherence to maximize the impact of their support.

Synergies will also be ensured with the Justice, Rights and Values Fund that contributes to priorities and objectives related to the better management of migration, the promotion of inclusion and addressing trafficking in human beings.

Finally, consistency and synergies will be sought with the Border Management and Visa Instrument as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund and the Internal Security Fund in addition to the Funds mentioned above.

Savings and benefits are mainly of qualitative nature and cannot be quantified at this stage.

Outcome of Legislative Procedure

Overall, the agreement reached among the co-legislators preserved the objectives of the original Commission proposal, although the agreed position offered slightly less flexibility and less simplification than what was initially proposed. The agreement maintained the same level of ambition as the initial proposal and provided a workable legal base for the implementation of Fund’s objectives.

The main changes in the agreement limiting slightly flexibility and simplification of the initial proposal were the following:

Objectives: A comprehensive policy objective and specific objectives, including the addition of a new specific objective on “solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility between Member States”.

Minimum funding percentages: Minimum percentages for the allocation of funds towards the specific objectives were introduced, as follows: 

(a) At least 15% of the resources to Member State programmes allocated to the specific objective on Common European Asylum System (“CEAS”); 

(b) At least 15% of the resources to Member State programmes allocated to the specific objective on legal migration, integration and social inclusion;

(c) At least 20% of the resources of the thematic facility allocated to the specific objective on solidarity and responsibility sharing;

(d) At least 5% of the initial allocation of the thematic facility to target local and regional authorities implementing integration measures.

Moreover, some other changes, which do not have REFIT impacts, were made such as the name of the fund was changed from AMF to AMIF, the percentages of the Thematic Facility, Mid-Term Review and initial allocations were slightly revised, as well as, the maximum ceiling for the operating support.

In addition, the annex III of the proposal (Scope of Support) will be a closed list (except Emergency Assistance) for the purposes of the Thematic Facility’s work programmes. In case of action in and in relation to third countries Member States need prior approval of the Commission.    

Estimated savings and benefits

Outcome of legislative procedure and changes presented above should not have significant financial impacts, neither positive nor negative. Savings and benefits describe above, in particular relating to the Common Provision Regulation, remained valid.