EP Budgets Committee approves extra funds for migration, flood relief and EFSI

The three EU agencies managing migration flows and various EU funds dealing with migration should get a €69.6 million budget boost , said the Budgets Committee on Tuesday as it approved proposed changes to this year's European budget. The budget increases still need to be approved by Parliament as a whole and the Council of Ministers.

DAB 5: additional resources to handle migration

Proposed in the wake of the drowning of 700 migrants in the Mediterranean in April (followed by the death of another 500 the following week) and further to votes in and the Council, draft amending budget (DAB) 5/2015 provides financial muscle for new policies to deal with migration and refugees heading for the European Union.

MEPs agreed to the DAB 5/2015 proposal, which would transfer €75.8 million in commitment appropriations and €69.6 in payment appropriations among others to the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex), the European Police Office (Europol) and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

Although the boost means a tripling of resources available for the second half of 2015, budget MEPs still consider the hike insufficient to deal with the worsening crisis in the Mediterranean (4).

Juncker Plan, surplus, flood relief also approved

In parallel votes, the committee approved three other changes to the current budget, dealing with financial backing for the Juncker investment plan, EU help to repair flood damage, and the budgeting of the surplus carried over from 2014.

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  DAB 1

The committee agreed to the transfer of €1.36 billion in commitment appropriations and €10 million in payment appropriations to a budget line for the European Fund for Strategic Investment. (It voted on the regulation creating this fund on 16 June).

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  DAB 3

In a yearly automatic exercise that is still subject to the approval of the Parliament and the Council, it budgets for the carry over of a surplus of €1.4 billion from 2014 to the current year.

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  DAB 4

MEPs approved a proposal to cover part of the emergency costs following last year’s floods in Romania (€8.5 million), Italy (€56 million) and Bulgaria (€1.98 million). The costs will be transferred from the European Solidarity Fund (EuSF). For details please see separate press release.

Next steps

Parliament as a whole votes on the DABs at its July session (6-9 July). The Council, which voted on DABs 3-5 on 19 June, will vote on DAB1 once the EFSI regulation is approved in Parliament.

In the chair: Mr Jean Arthuis (ALDE, FR)

REF. : 20150622IPR69261