Annexes to COM(2011)448 - Application of the criteria for the distribution of resources among the Member States under the External Borders Fund, the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals and the European Return Fund

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dossier COM(2011)448 - Application of the criteria for the distribution of resources among the Member States under the External Borders Fund, the ...
document COM(2011)448 EN
date July 20, 2011
agreements or arrangements they had with third countries. To allow a proper assessment of these data, Member States were requested to provide to the Commission, in an explanatory note to the data, all the relevant information on such bilateral agreements or arrangements, including the number of third-country nationals returned disaggregated by citizenship. Depending on the case management of the migratory flows, variations have occurred.

The application of the Migration Statistics Regulation provides adequate assurance of the comparability and quality of the data. Moreover for some specific cases, such as the one in which the return decisions are higher than effective returns, additional checks were undertaken in order to ensure the plausibility of the data provided by the Member States.

Overall assessment of the application of the criteria

In conclusion, despite some minor difficulties in ensuring uniform application of the definitions imposed by the logic of the RF basic act, it proved possible to collect the necessary data to apply the criteria in accordance with the RF basic act and to deliver the calculation of the provisional allocations to Member States in time for them to be able to use them for the preparation of their annual programmes.

The results of the application of the criteria are outlined in the SEC document. The three main beneficiaries are Greece, United Kingdom and Spain. Together with France, Italy and Germany, these countries account for nearly 67% of the allocations. In light of the size of the migratory pressure on these countries and bearing in mind the shift in flows of irregular entries over the years from the Spanish coast (Canary Islands) towards the Central Mediterranean route to the Greek borders with Albania and Turkey, the results confirm the purpose of the Fund as an instrument of financial solidarity for return management in the EU.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The basic acts for the four Funds came into force in the summer of 2007, a few weeks before the first calculations for the resources to Member States were due.

Thanks to the preparatory work between the Commission and the Member States on the data for the allocations in anticipation to the entry into force, the Commission was in a position to submit to the Member States, as required, by July 2007 the information on the allocations for 2007 and 2008. Together with the extrapolations for the period 2009-2013, these figures guided the Member States in setting the indicative financial framework as the basis of the multiannual strategy for the implementation of the Funds.

In the course of the 2007-2011 financial years, the principles and work methods for data collection, gradually established and defined each year, have come to bear fruit; the last exercise has shown how they have increasingly simplified and facilitated the work on the calculations. The methodology used has proved effective. Thus, the Commission was able to submit the calculations to the Member States in general on time.

The Migration Statistics Regulation is increasingly the backbone of the system for data collection under the Return Fund and the Integration Fund. The system put in place for data collection on the External Borders Fund, while different, is also proving adequate. The checks put in place in either system, while not always optimal given inherent limitations in data sources, validation tools and the administrative capacity for data analysis in the EU, form nevertheless a solid basis on which to continue making the calculations for future financial years. In terms of the definitions of the data collection, some differences may remain between the Migration Statistics Regulation and the criteria laid down in the basic acts. In practice, solutions have been found on a bilateral basis and efforts to further improve the co-operation and exchange of data between Member States and the Commission, including EUROSTAT, will continue. EUROSTAT monitors the quality of the data used in the compilation of the reference figures – whether these data are supplied under the specific statistical legislation or on the basis of voluntary agreements. However, this monitoring and quality control is limited to normal statistical practices and reflects the usual distribution of tasks and responsibilities between EUROSTAT and national data suppliers. It should be noted that the compilation of European Statistics is a co-operative process that greatly depends on the reliability of the data supplied by national authorities.

Given the particular importance of ensuring the quality of the statistics used for the allocation of the four Funds, a specific quality assurance programme has been put in place by EUROSTAT and there will be on going work to continue quality improvements.

While the Commission was in general able to deliver the final calculations on time thanks to all these factors, it has to be recognised that the amount and complexity of the data to be collected and verified each year imposes a recurrent administrative burden on the Member States and the Commission. There may be more cost-effective ways of ensuring the application of distribution keys which seek to express the principle of solidarity underlying the Funds.

The results of the application of the criteria, as laid down in detail in the staff working document accompanying this Communication, are generally perceived as satisfactory. The application of the criteria has served the objectives as defined by the European Parliament and the Council in the basic acts establishing the Funds of the General Programme Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows since they have converged the bulk of the EU resources available around those Member States most affected by the challenges posed by the management of migration flows of third-country nationals into the EU. Under these circumstances, it is not deemed necessary to come forward with proposals to amend the criteria.

[1] COM(2005)123 final

[2] Article 52(3)(a) of Decision No 574/2007/EC (OJ L144, 6.6.2007, p.22)

[3] Article 48(3)(a) of Council Decision 2007/435/EC (OJ L168, 28.6.2007, p.18)

[4] Article 50(3)(a) of Decision No 575/2007/EC (OJ L144, 6.6.2007, p.45)

[5] The allocations are indicative as the total Fund's appropriations are subject to the approval of the final budget of the European Union by its budgetary authority by the end of the year. Furthermore, they are also provisional as subject to formal approval by the Commission.

[6] Regulation No 862/2007 of the EP and of the Council on Community statistics on migration and international protection and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers (OJ L.199, 31.7.2007, p.23).

[7] Article 12 of the Integration Fund, Article 13 of the European Refugee Fund and Article 14 of the External Borders Fund and Return Fund

[8] Council Decision 2007/435/EC (OJ L 168, 28.6.2007, p.18)

[9] Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Mlember State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national (OJ L50, 25.2.2003, p.1).