Refugee Crisis: Parliament approves additional €401.3m in the 2015 EU Budget

The European Parliament's Budgets Committee today adopted by a large majority an additional €401.3 million in the 2015 EU budget to address the refugee crisis. The proposal should be ratified by the EP plenary on Wednesday.

“We have shown our commitment to making full use of the EU budget to address the current refugee crisis, proving the existence of de facto solidarity from the European Union”, explained Siegfried Mureşan MEP, the EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur and Vice-Chairman of the committee.

"The EPP Group favours the provision of means to tackle the refugee and migration crisis. We adopted the fast-track procedure as it is urgent to respond to this crisis”, added the EPP Group’s Spokesman in the Budgets Committee, José Manuel Fernandes MEP.

This amending budget proposal introduces the necessary budgetary changes for the remaining months of 2015, which include: €300 million in commitments for the European Neighbourhood Instrument to provide assistance to third countries hosting refugees from Syria through the 'Madad' Trust Fund; €100 million in commitments for financing emergency assistance provided under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Internal Security Fund; and €1.3 million for the creation of 120 new posts in the three EU agencies working on migration-related issues: Frontex (+60), the European Asylum Support Office (+30) and Europol (+30), to increase their capacity on the ground.

In addition, the amending budget proposes €55.7 million in redeployment for humanitarian aid and also mobilises the flexibility instrument to the amount of €66.1 million, as there were no more budgetary margins. "This shows that the EU budget needs more flexibility and should be strengthened and revised”, added Fernandes.

“The EU budget is part of the solution, but our efforts have to be matched by Member States in order to address the root causes of the problem and help improve the situation in the countries of origin of the refugees. This is why the EPP Group will not accept further cuts in the budgetary lines that aim at solving the issue. The long-term solution is to stabilise troubled countries and ensure basic access to food, health and education”, concluded Mureşan.