The European Union launched funding and two calls for proposals yesterday that could be of fundamental importance to Malta, worth a total of EUR14 million (Lm5.85 million), as part of the EU’s wider Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows programme for 2007-2013.
The funding and call for proposals deal with both the EU’s Return Fund, providing for joint repatriation projects, and the European Refugee Fund, aimed at assisting states having problems with receiving large numbers of migrants.
The first of the programmes, each of which is to receive funding of EUR7 million (Lm2.92 million), addresses the issue of repatriation assistance and was referred to by EU vice-president Franco Frattini when he was in Malta last week as part of the European People’s Party study days held here.
Mr Frattini said that two such repatriation programmes for Malta were in the offing and could be expected to be made effective in the near future.
The repatriation initiative launched yesterday involves the “return, social and professional reintegration for returnees and preparation of information campaign on illegal immigration”.
The so-called “return action” component of the overall strategy is aimed at supporting member states’ efforts to improve the management of return in all its dimensions – taking into account Community legislation and readmission agreements in the field.
As such, the programme will encourage the development of cooperation between member states with respect to return management as well as cooperation with the countries of return.
Closely linked to the return actions, reintegration assistance in case of returns to countries of origin with which the European Community has concluded readmission agreements will also be the object of priority attention.
The component also includes information action aimed at better preparing and enhancing the quality of information campaigns on the dangers of illegal immigration.
The second strand, meanwhile, deals with assisting countries facing particular challenges in the reception of asylum seekers. The programme has been made available in recognition of the pressure irregular migration is creating on Mediterranean and Atlantic member states, which it says has reached an “unprecedented high” over the last two years.
The rising tide has placed what was described by the European Commission yesterday as an “enormous strain” on reception capacities and asylum systems that require “immediate and decisive action at both national and European level”.
Such assistance is aimed at offering timely, well-targeted and effective financial assistance to supplement efforts deployed by affected member states such as Malta in providing adequate reception conditions and appropriate, differentiated solutions for the people involved.
The Annual Work Pro-gramme also foresees the
creation of a portal on immi- gration information to ensure better access to, and exchange and dissemination of, information on various aspects of migration.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Frattini commented: “This new programme complements and financially underpins the EU policy which must adopt a comprehensive response to the management of migratory flows, a challenge which is constantly growing and evolving. The EU is facing a rapid increase in migratory pressure, especially on its southern borders.
“In response, the EU must therefore increase its capability to respond to these challenges through enhanced solidarity and burden-sharing in the area of reception as well as in the cooperation between member states in the field of return of irregular migrants.”
The funding for the two calls for proposals follows the adoption of the 2007 Work Programme for the new Preparatory Action Solidarity in Action, endorsed by the European Parliament in December 2006.
The financing of a number of projects connected with migration, of which the two announced today are the first, fall within the more general framework of the Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows programme for 2007-2013.