Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund
The European Commission's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (previously the Return Fund, the Refugee Fund, and the Integration Fund) is a funding programme managed by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs which promotes the efficient management of migration flows and the implementation, strengthening and development of a common approach to asylum and immigration in the European Union. All EU Member States except Denmark participate in the implementation of this Fund. Most of the funds are provided to the EU Member States for activities addressing previously agreed upon themes. A part of the funding is reserved for emergency assistance. A final part is reserved for Union Actions, which are European Commission managed projects that are developed as either calls for proposals, direct awards, procurements, or delegation agreements. In addition to providing funding for projects, the programme funds the activities and future development of the European Migration Network. The lists of projects and initiatives below are not complete. Context Institutional history Since 1999, a common area of freedom, security and justice has been established in the European Council because of the priority that integration was on the European political agenda. In 2004, more specific directives were also included in the Hague Programme and the Council of Justice adopted the Common Basic Principles of this integration. Assessments and preparations for new instruments began to be carried out in 2010 and a public consultation was held in 2011 where the importance of the integration system was highlighted. A conference was held in 2011 with the same theme, which influenced subsequent political decisions with a vision of solidarity. In order to maximise the benefits of immigration, the Stockholm Programme established the priorities within the European agenda for the period 2010–2014. The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) was drafted on 16 April 2014 and is established for the period 2014–2020. It provides for a total fund of €3.137 billion for seven years. However, in the period prior to 2014, i.e. 2007–2013, these funds were spread over three instead of one. These are the European Refugee Fund (ERF) with a budget of 700 million euros, the European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals with a budget of 825 million euros and the European Return Fund (ERF) with a budget of 630 million euros. These eventually ended up merging due to a failure of monitoring, a too high administrative cost and a lack of coordination in both implementation at national level and coordination with other assistance funds. Therefore, a convergence of the funds would be more effective according to the analysis report. Establishment It was proposed by the European Commission and established by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the basis of Articles 78(2), 79(2) and (4), 82 (1), 84, 87 (2) of Title V of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Which is also referred to as "space, freedom and justice", the basis for asylum, migration and integration. The Committee of the Regions of