Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 establishing, as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund, the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

The regulation establishes the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy (BMVI), as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund.
It sets out the:
- policy and specific objectives;
- measures to achieve those aims;
- size, form and rules of European Union (EU) funding from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 — the period of the current multiannual financial framework.

KEY POINTS

The BMVI aims to:

ensure the strong and effective integrated management of Europe’s external borders;
contribute to a high level of internal security;
safeguard the free movement of people within the EU;
respect EU law and international obligations.

Two specific objectives — Annex II sets out the measures to be used — are to support:

the European Border and Coast Guard (see summary) as a shared responsibility of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and national authorities to facilitate legitimate border crossings, prevent and detect illegal immigration and cross-border crime and manage migratory flows effectively (Annex III contains the scope of costs that may be financed);
the common visa policy and a harmonised approach on issuing visas to facilitate legitimate travel and help prevent migratory and security risks.

The BMVI’s activities:

focus primarily on areas such as cross-border infrastructure, operating equipment, training, deployment of immigration liaison officers, pilot studies and exchange of best practice (Annex III sets these out in detail);
may be expanded by the European Commission to address unforeseen or new circumstances;
complement national, regional and local measures and benefit the EU.

The Commission, EU Member States and the European External Action Service, when working with non-EU countries, must:

ensure activities are coherent with EU external and internal policy;
focus on measures that are not oriented towards development.

The 7-year budget totals €5.241 billion, plus an extra €1.141 billion. This is used as follows:

€3.668 billion is allocated to national programmes, of which €200,568,000 is allocated to a special transit scheme for Lithuania;
€1.573 billion is allocated to specific actions, EU actions and emergency assistance (known as ‘the thematic facility’), primarily to support internal EU policies;
a small percentage (up to 0.52%) is allocated to technical assistance, at the Commission’s discretion;
a minimum of 10% of national programmes must be allocated to visa policy.

Annex I sets out how the budget, which allows some pre-financing, is distributed between national programmes:

each Member State receives a basic fixed amount of €8 million, except for Cyprus, Malta and Greece (€28 million each);
the remainder is shared between
- external land borders (30%)
- external sea borders (35%)
- airports (20%)
- consular offices (15%);
the EU contribution is normally limited to 75% of a project’s total cost. This may be increased to 90% in certain cases (set out in Annex IV), such as the purchase of operating equipment for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and even to 100% for a few actions listed under Article 12, such as emergency assistance.

Member States:

ensure their programme priorities are consistent with the EU’s border management and visa policies, EU law and international obligations;
consult the Commission before using the BMVI for a project with, or in, a non-EU country;
may use up to 33% of their funding allocation for public authorities carrying out the various tasks and services in the EU’s interest (operating support);
submit to the Commission annual performance reports from 15 February 2023 until 15 February 2031.

The following legal entities are eligible for EU financing:

those established in a Member State, an overseas country or territory, or a non-EU country listed in the work programme;
those created under EU law or any relevant international organisation.

Information, communication and publicity obligations require:

recipients of EU funding to acknowledge the origin of the finance and ensure its visibility;
the Commission to
- carry out information and communication activities
- publish the thematic facility’s work programmes.

The Commission:

cooperates with public and private partners, including civil society and non-governmental organisations, when using the thematic facility to provide direct finance via grants or public contracts;
presents information to the European Parliament and Council on core performance indicators regarding borders and visas (set out in Annex V);
carries out a midterm evaluation of the regulation by 31 December 2024;
makes publicly available in all official EU languages summaries of the annual performance reports it receives from Member States.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 1 January 2021.

BACKGROUND

Between 2021 and 2027, the overall home affairs budget is €29 billion. This is shared between 3 funds — the BMVI, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (see summary) and the Internal Security Fund (see summary) — and the home affairs agencies.

For more information, see:

Integrated Border Management Fund (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing, as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund, the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy (OJ L 251, 15.7.2021, pp. 48-93)