European Refugee Fund 2008-2013 – Luxembourg - Main contents

The Commission has just adopted the multiannual programme under the European Refugee Fund 2008-2013 for Luxembourg for an estimated amount of € 6.94 million (of which 3.7 million as Community contribution), together with the annual programme 2008.

Vice President, Jacques Barrot i, responsible for the Justice, Freedom and Security portfolio, welcomed the adoption of the first multiannual programme for the implementation of the European Refugee Fund. "The launch of this multiannual programme constitutes the expression of the financial solidarity of the European Union towards a Member State like Luxembourg, which is faced with significant challenges in this area".

Luxembourg has chosen to focus on the three strategic priorities foreseen for the Fund, namely:

A. Implementation of the principles and measures set out in the Community acquis in the field of asylum, including those related to integration objectives;

B. Development of reinforcement tools and evaluation methodologies to assess and improve the quality of procedures for the examination of claims for international protection and to underpin administrative structures in an effort to respond to the challenges brought forward by enhanced practical co-operation with other Member ;

C. Actions helping to enhance responsibility sharing between Member States and Third Countries.

The following are some of the projects to be financed in the 2008 annual programme in Luxembourg:

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  Assistance to asylum seekers in accommodation centres on all aspects connected with their status and to enable them to participate in the centre’s daily life;
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  Training for officers dealing with the asylum procedure on the specific needs of vulnerable asylum seekers (victims of torture, sexually mistreated women, children soldiers, etc.)
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  Assistance and start up training to enable refugees to set up their own business;

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Background

The European Refugee Fund is one of the four financial instruments of the general programme on "Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows" which addresses the issue of a fair share of responsibilities between Member States arising from the introduction of integrated management of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union and from the implementation of common policies on asylum and immigration. The other three Funds are: the European Fund for the Integration of Third country nationals, the External Borders Fund and the Return Fund.

The European Refugee Fund is an expression of solidarity between Member States and requires mechanisms to promote a balance of efforts between Member States.

Concretely, it supports the efforts of Member States:

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  to grant reception conditions to refugees, displaced persons and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection;
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  to integrate persons whose stay in a particular Member State is of a lasting and stable nature;
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  to apply fair and effective asylum procedures and to promote good practices in the field of asylum so as to protect the rights of persons requiring international protection and enable Member States asylum systems to work efficiently;
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  to support the capacity building for the asylum systems in general;
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  to provide a durable solution in their territories to refugees and displaced persons identified as eligible for resettlement by the UNHCR

It also promotes voluntary burden sharing between Member States consisting of the transfer of beneficiaries of international protection from one Member State to another, which grants them a similar protection.

The overall budget of this Fund for 2008-2013 is € 628 million distributed as follows:

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  90 % distributed among Member States: the distribution key expresses solidarity on the basis of the number of legally staying third country nationals;
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  10 % directly managed by the Commission and dedicated to Community actions with a particular emphasis on supporting practical cooperation between Member States. The call for proposals for 2008 Community actions will be published in the beginning of 2009.

Information on the European Refugee Fund is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/funding/refugee/funding_refugee_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/barrot/index_en.htm