Ladies and Gentlemen,
Honourable Members of the Committee on Budgetary Control,
Dear Member of the Court of Auditors, Mr. Itala,
It is my pleasure to be back in this Committee to discuss with you the financial year 2016.
Let me first thank the European Court of Auditors’ Rapporteur, Mr Itala, for his in-depth analysis and presentation of spending in the area of migration and home affairs.
Major achievements 2016 was a particularly challenging year for migration and security.
The Commission continued acting on all fronts to respond to migration and security crises.
In the area of migration, we continued to provide immediate solutions to emerging challenges on the ground.
But our priority was also to move beyond ad-hoc measures advancing on all fronts of our comprehensive approach in managing migration.
Our efforts focussed on: saving lives at sea, receiving refugees in need of protection, relocating people in need of protection from Greece and Italy, returning those migrants who were not entitled to stay in the EU, strengthening protection of our external borders and expanding the safe and legal migration channels, resettlement in particular.
We have been successful in our actions. Just to give you a few examples:
In 2016, 9 656 people were relocated from Greece and Italy. Due to our continued efforts, this figure has increased to 33 140 people since then.
This represents 93% of all applicants eligible and registered for relocation – this is a clear success.
I can inform you of a similar positive trend regarding resettlements.
Since the launch of EU resettlement schemes, 27 000 people were resettled, including under the EU-Turkey Statement.
We have also received over 39 000 pledges under the new Commission plan for at least 50 000 resettlement by 2019.
In all these areas, we proposed also to reinforce our legislation, to make it fully fit for purpose.
We also strived to coordinate Member States’ action and supported work on the ground.
In addition, we supported the further roll-out of the hotspot approach and the implementation of the relocation and resettlement schemes.
In the area of security, we continued to fight against terrorism, radicalisation, organised crime, trafficking of human beings and cybercrime.
To support these policy developments, DG HOME managed a budget that increased from EUR 1.7 billion in 2015 to EUR 3.2 billion in 2016 which is a 90% increase.
Absorption of the available funds substantially increased in several policy areas.
Reflecting on ECA findings Against this backdrop, I am pleased that the European Court of Auditors found DG HOME’s management of EU funds overall satisfactory.
The Auditors pointed to some weaknesses, such as the pace of payments under shared management of the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF).
But since then, significant improvements were made on this side too.
In particular, the payments reported in 2017 increased by more than three times compared to 2016.
In addition, the amounts committed – (i.e. contracted) – so far at Member States’ level according to 2016 accounts have reached 36 % for AMIF and 40 % for ISF.
Regarding the Court of Auditors’ findings about outsourced ex-post audit work for certain funds (SOLID), the Commission’s assurance is based on both audits of national management and control systems and audits of individual projects throughout the entire programming period.
These audits are an opportunity for Member States to take corrective measures for system deficiencies and for the Commission to make sure that the expenditure declared is legal and regular.
The Commission has also in place a set of internal control standards, based on international good practice.
The internal control standards take into account the observations the Court of Auditors made during the 2015 discharge procedure and the recommendations made by the Commission’s Internal Audit Service.
In 2016, DG HOME also started to implement a new performance framework based on a set of specific objectives, impact and result indicators both for migration and security.
In the area of migration, the indicators show clear progress made in: saving lives at sea, receiving and granting protection to refugees and managing overall migration flows.
This is also underpinned by the Court of Auditor’s special report on hotspots which confirmed the added value of the hotspots approach.
More than 261 000 migrants arrived in the hotspots between 1 January 2016 and 15 September 2017.
The hotspot approach made it possible for them to receive medical care and screening, get properly identified, fingerprinted, screened, registered and informed about their rights in one single location, so they can be immediately channelled into the appropriate procedure, contributing to swifter decision-making on their status.
In the area of security, the indicators also show progress towards our key priorities – the fight against: terrorism, radicalisation, organised crime, trafficking of human beings and cybercrime.
For instance, DG HOME continued to provide recommendations to Member States on the use of SIS.
This has yielded excellent results – the number of alerts in SIS reached 70.8 billion by 31 December 2016.
The number of accesses to the system by competent authorities also increased significantly from approximately 2.9 billion times in 2015 to over 3.9 billion times in 2016.
The number of hits on foreign alerts in the SIS also saw a 30% increase in the same period.
Similarly, the use of Europol’s information exchange mechanism called SIENA showed significant increase in 2016: 870 000 SIENA messages were exchanged and almost 70 000 contributions were accepted.
Next steps what are the Commission’s plans for the future?
Delivering all the remaining pieces of the puzzle, both in the field of migration and security.
In September 2017, the Commission reviewed achievements under the European Agenda on Migration and identified areas where further efforts were needed.
In December, we presented a communication on a way forward on the external and internal dimension of migration policy.
Accordingly, the Commission will continue to work in 2018 on fully delivering the remaining elements of the Agenda on Migration, putting in place a comprehensive, solid framework for the future, based on solidarity and responsibility.
Enhancing the Security Union will also remain a priority in 2018, emphasising cross-border access by law enforcement authorities to electronic evidence and to financial data, strengthening the rules against explosives precursors, removing terrorist content online, supporting Member States on countering radicalisation and in implementing the action plan on protecting public spaces.
Thank you for your attention and I look forward to your questions.