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ECRE Policy Note: Outspending on migration?

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World
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ECRE
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I. INTRODUCTION

In the negotiations of the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2012-27 there are some persisting disagreements between Member States on the overall architecture and governance of the EU’s future seven year budget. Some relate to asylum and migration: how much money will be provided for migration-related objectives? For what specifically? To be spent where? And under whose competence?

In particular, Member States are divided over the way in which migration should feature in the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), to what extent Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) funds should cover migration related spending outside the EU and what coordination between internal and external funding for migration should exist. The background against which this is discussed is that Member States have agreed to follow the European Commission’s proposal to dedicate 10% of the NDICI to “addressing the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement and to supporting migration management and governance including the protection of refugees and migrants’ rights”. In addition, the concept of dedicated, significant components for external migration management has been introduced as a feature for all three Justice and Home Affairs Funds, the proposed Asylum and Migration Fund (AMF), the Integrated Border Management Fund (IBMF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF).

It is expected that this will be discussed by Heads of State and Government in the coming months. This Policy Note seeks to inform discussions by providing a perspective on what would constitute the most effective and rights based approach to funding asylum and migration outside the EU.