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| European Parliament |
EU countries
will have to allocate more funds to improve their asylum systems and the
integration of migrants, under the new Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund
for the next seven years passed by Parliament on Thursday. The text sets
minimum amounts that each EU country will have to spend on these policies. MEPs
also approved the new EU Internal Security Fund, designed to improve border
surveillance and police cooperation.
The Asylum,
Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) has a total budget of €3.1 billion for
2014-2020. At least 20% of the €2.4 billion that member states will get (3.1
billion minus 746 million for EU programmes and other actions) must be spent on
measures to support legal migration and promote the integration of migrants.
Member states
will also be obliged to allocate at least an additional 20% of the funds to
asylum measures. EU countries will have to provide detailed explanations if
they want to keep spending below these percentages and those facing
"structural deficiencies in the area of accommodation, infrastructure and
service" will not be able to spend less in the field of asylum.
