Not enough in the EU budget to deal with the current crisis. Adding money not an easy task
by Emanuele Bonini
Migration is not only a matter of political approach and will, it is also a matter of money. Despite the different political ideas, the European Union need resources which are not there. The EU in the sense of the Member States should revise the common budget in order to put new, fresh money with the aim of better addressing a situation otherwise impossible to solve. This is the only way out, and of course it is not an easy one. Far-right populist movements are rising up all across Europe, the European Union opted for strict fiscal rules, and amongst the governments there are those who neither can't nor don't want to invest on migration. There is still the possibility of changing the current Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), the single EU budget for the 2014-2020 period, but it is unclear how such a possibility will be used by the Member States.
Resources made available
The EU can spend for migration €9,26 billion, which are the resources foreseen in the heading 3 («Security and Citizenship»). These money are mainly channelled through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF, €3,1 billion), the Internal Security Fund (ISF, €3,8 billion) and the main EU Home Affairs agencies involved (Frontex, Easo, Europol, that got €2,36 billion). In addition, under humanitarian aid and development cooperation, the EU budget and EU Trust Funds, as well as, outside the EU budget, the European Development Fund (EDF), address migration and asylum both geographically and thematically. As a new element at the end of 2015, the €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey was set up under the EU-Turkey deal on migration, with €1 billion coming from the EU budget.
Not enough money
There is a limited amount of appropriations available within the current MFF to address the refugee and migration crisis. This situation reflects the historical moment of the negotiations: at the time of decisions for the new MFF, the refugee crisis wasn't there and it wasn't foreseen a scenario like the one Europe has to deal with today. So far, additional needs have been addressed through redeployment, amending budgets, mobilisation of special instruments and the creation of ad hoc instruments such as trust funds. The latter have shortfalls (€1,7 billion still missing in the trust fund for Africa, €266 million still missing in the trust fund for Syria, €136 million still missing in the trust fund for Turkey), but even in case of full respect of the commitments, in Brussels it is believed that substantially increased resources will be required between now and 2020, compared to what is provided in the MFF.
More money is not an easy task
In order to put more money in the MFF, unanimity is needed. According to the EU rules, any decision on budget requires the green light from all the Member States. There are some countries (especially in the eastern part of Europe) rather reluctant to invest on migrants, other countries (Germany and France) will hold general elections soon and don't want to offer any advantage to the far-right populist movements. Furthermore, there countries with no or limited possibilities of spending (Greece, Italy) and the Brexit. How possible can be getting the unanimity in budgetary revision with the United Kingdom going leaving the EU and keen to use any chance to impose its conditions on the farewell negotiations? MFF spending will have to be complemented by additional EU expenditure outside the MFF, and by significantly increased Member State spending. That's the challenge of Europe when it comes migration.
Migration is not only a matter of political approach and will, it is also a matter of money. Despite the different political ideas, the European Union need resources which are not there. The EU in the sense of the Member States should revise the common budget in order to put new, fresh money with the aim of better addressing a situation otherwise impossible to solve. This is the only way out, and of course it is not an easy one. Far-right populist movements are rising up all across Europe, the European Union opted for strict fiscal rules, and amongst the governments there are those who neither can't nor don't want to invest on migration. There is still the possibility of changing the current Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), the single EU budget for the 2014-2020 period, but it is unclear how such a possibility will be used by the Member States.
Resources made available
The EU can spend for migration €9,26 billion, which are the resources foreseen in the heading 3 («Security and Citizenship»). These money are mainly channelled through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF, €3,1 billion), the Internal Security Fund (ISF, €3,8 billion) and the main EU Home Affairs agencies involved (Frontex, Easo, Europol, that got €2,36 billion). In addition, under humanitarian aid and development cooperation, the EU budget and EU Trust Funds, as well as, outside the EU budget, the European Development Fund (EDF), address migration and asylum both geographically and thematically. As a new element at the end of 2015, the €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey was set up under the EU-Turkey deal on migration, with €1 billion coming from the EU budget.
Not enough money
There is a limited amount of appropriations available within the current MFF to address the refugee and migration crisis. This situation reflects the historical moment of the negotiations: at the time of decisions for the new MFF, the refugee crisis wasn't there and it wasn't foreseen a scenario like the one Europe has to deal with today. So far, additional needs have been addressed through redeployment, amending budgets, mobilisation of special instruments and the creation of ad hoc instruments such as trust funds. The latter have shortfalls (€1,7 billion still missing in the trust fund for Africa, €266 million still missing in the trust fund for Syria, €136 million still missing in the trust fund for Turkey), but even in case of full respect of the commitments, in Brussels it is believed that substantially increased resources will be required between now and 2020, compared to what is provided in the MFF.
More money is not an easy task
In order to put more money in the MFF, unanimity is needed. According to the EU rules, any decision on budget requires the green light from all the Member States. There are some countries (especially in the eastern part of Europe) rather reluctant to invest on migrants, other countries (Germany and France) will hold general elections soon and don't want to offer any advantage to the far-right populist movements. Furthermore, there countries with no or limited possibilities of spending (Greece, Italy) and the Brexit. How possible can be getting the unanimity in budgetary revision with the United Kingdom going leaving the EU and keen to use any chance to impose its conditions on the farewell negotiations? MFF spending will have to be complemented by additional EU expenditure outside the MFF, and by significantly increased Member State spending. That's the challenge of Europe when it comes migration.
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