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dossier	COM(2018)719 - Amendment of Regulation 516/2014 (AMIF), as regards the re-commitment of funds for the implementation of Council Decisions ...
source	COM(2018)719
date	22-10-2018

1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

To support the implementation of the Council Decisions establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece ¹ and of the Council Decision on legal admission from Turkey ² , funding was committed to Member States' national programmes under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The two Council Decisions ³ have enabled the effective relocation of 34,705 applicants in need of international protection from Greece and Italy and the legal admission of 5,345 persons in need of international protection from Turkey. The timeframe and the applicability of these decisions have now come to an end.

Out of the EUR 843 million committed in the course of 2016 to Member States' national programmes under AMIF, approximately EUR 567 million is still available. According to the decommitment rule set out in the Regulation laying down general provisions for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund ⁴ , payments should be made on these commitments by the end of 2018, after which the funding will no longer be available for Member States' use under their Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund national programmes.

In the light of discussions with the European Parliament and the Council in the course of 2018, the Commission proposes technical amendments to Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 516/2014 ⁵ , to enable Member States to use the remaining committed funds to address Union priorities in the area of migration, including carrying out relocation after the end of the Council Decisions. The proposal would also enlarge the target group eligible for relocation under the current AMIF, namely the beneficiaries of international protection, in order to include also the transfer of applicants for international protection (as was the case in the aforementioned Council Decisions).

With this amendment, Member States will be in the position to continue showing solidarity when implementing transfer decisions in practice. Moreover, this proposal would provide Member States with the possibility to use this funding for other actions defined in the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund Regulation, in addition to relocation and resettlement, when duly justified in the national programmes, which will need to be revised for that purpose ⁶ . The mid-term review of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund has confirmed that Member States are confronted with varied and significant needs in the areas of asylum, integration and return.

The proposal enables Member States to re-commit or transfer amounts within national programmes, by means of revisions of the national programme. The proposal also extends the deadline for decommitment of the remaining amounts committed to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 by a maximum of six months, so as to ensure that Member States will have sufficient time to revise the national programmes in order to make the changes related to possible re-commitments or transfers of funding. To this effect, it is proposed to derogate from Article 50 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 ⁷ . Furthermore, the proposal also contains a provision extending the deadline for the use of the funding concerned, by two additional years following the approval of the revisions of the national programmes by the Commission, to give Member States sufficient time to implement the actions to which the funding will be re-committed or transferred.

In order for the amounts committed to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 to remain available in the Member States' national programmes to support relocation and other Union's priorities in the area of migration and asylum, and for these not to be decommitted, it is essential that the proposed technical amendments to Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 are adopted and enter into force before the end of 2018.

• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

This proposal is consistent with the Union's policy priorities in the areas of migration and asylum, by enabling Member States to continue using the remaining amounts committed to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 for Union priorities in the area of migration and asylum, through their national programmes.

• Consistency with other Union policies

The proposed technical amendment is consistent with other proposals and initiatives adopted by the European Commission. The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund has been an important tool to complement the EU actions in the areas of borders and security, in particular by providing funding support to setting up and running hotspots. In particular, coordinated support from both the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Internal Security Fund has proven to be essential to ensure a smooth handling of cases in the hotspots, including their referral to the appropriate procedures. Alongside and in coordination with the European Social Fund, it has also provided support to the integration of third-country nationals, and has complemented the work of EU external funding instruments in implementing of EU policies on external migration. The proposed amendment of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund will allow further support for actions in these areas.

2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

• Legal basis

This proposal amends Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 and is based on Articles 78(2) and 79(2) and i of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which empowers the Union to take actions in area of asylum, immigration, management of migration flows, fair treatment of third-country nationals residing legally in Member States, combating illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings, including through co-operation with third countries.

These Articles constitute compatible legal bases in the light of the position of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark with regard to the areas they cover, thus provide for compatible voting rules in the Council. The ordinary legislative procedure applies to each of them.

• Subsidiarity

This proposal complies with the subsidiarity principle. Enabling Member States to continue using the remaining amounts committed to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 for relocation, as well as, in duly justified circumstances, for other actions within their national programmes will lead to a higher added value at Union level than Member States acting alone.

• Proportionality

The proposal is limited to the technical adjustments necessary.

• Choice of the instrument

Proposed instrument: amendment of the current Regulation.

Given the legal framework, it is necessary to propose amendments to Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 and to derogate from Regulation (EU) No 514/2014.

3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

• Stakeholder consultations

Informal consultations have taken place with the relevant Committee of the European Parliament and the relevant Council working group. This has indicated a consensus on the need for the technical adjustments set out in this proposal.

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

The purpose of the proposed technical amendment is to ensure that the amounts committed in 2016 to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 remain available to the Member States in their national programmes for the financing of relocation, and, if duly justified in the framework of a revision of the national programme, other actions in the field of migration and asylum. No additional funding from the Union budget is therefore necessary for the implementation of the proposed amendments to Regulation (EU) No 516/2014.

5. OTHER ELEMENTS

• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

This proposal has no consequences for the existing monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund Regulation, which will continue to apply.

• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

The first objective of this proposal is to enable the use of the remaining amounts, which have been committed under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601, to promote EU priorities in the areas of migration and asylum, including relocation. This would be possible for an extended period of two years following the revision of the national programmes by the Commission, and would also allow the use of these funds for purposes other than relocation, through revisions of Member States' national programmes. At the same time, it would also extend the scope of the target group of persons eligible for relocation to provide Member States with more flexibility in implementing solidarity measures.

Therefore, the proposal amends Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 by inserting the words applicant for or before the words beneficiary of international protection.

Secondly, the proposal amends Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 by making it possible to re-commit the amounts committed to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 for relocation or to transfer them to other actions defined in Asylum, Migration and Integration Regulation and based on the Member States' needs. This should be duly justified in a revision of the national programme, to be approved by the Commission. Such transfers or re-commitments should be done only once, in view of the principle of sound financial management and respect for the decommitment rule as set out in Article 50 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014.

Thirdly, the proposal inserts a provision in Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 which revises the decommitment rule set out in Article 50 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 so that the remaining amounts committed to support the implementation of the Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and (EU) 2015/1601 can be used for an additional period of two years. For that purpose, the proposed provision states that the amounts concerned will be considered to have been committed in the year of the revision of the national programme that approves the re-commitment of these amounts or their transfer to other actions in the national programme.

Finally, the proposal extends the deadline for the automatic decommitment of amounts by a period of six months. This provision derogates from the first paragraph of Article 50 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 and is necessary in order for Member States and the Commission to complete the procedure for the revision of the national programmes, as referred to in Article 14 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014.