RSCAS 2019/05 Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies External border control and asylum management as EU common goods. A budgetary perspective Alessandro D´Alfonso European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies External border control and asylum management as EU common goods. A budgetary perspective Alessandro D´Alfonso EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2019/05 This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the author(s), editor(s). If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author(s), editor(s), the title, the working paper, or other series, the year and the publisher. ISSN 1028-3625 © Alessandro D´Alfonso, 2019 Manuscript completed in July 2018 Printed in Italy, February 2019 European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy www.eui.eu/RSCAS/Publications/ www.eui.eu cadmus.eui.eu Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, created in 1992 and currently directed by Professor Brigid Laffan, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research on the major issues facing the process of European integration, European societies and Europe’s place in 21st century global politics. The Centre is home to a large post-doctoral programme and hosts major research programmes, projects and data sets, in addition to a range of working groups and ad hoc initiatives. The research agenda is organised around a set of core themes and is continuously evolving, reflecting the changing agenda of European integration, the expanding membership of the European Union, developments in Europe’s neighbourhood and the wider world. For more information: http://eui.eu/rscas The EUI and the RSCAS are not responsible for the opinion expressed by the author(s). Furthermore, the views expressed in this publication represent a personal opinion and should not be taken to represent an official position of the European Union or the European Parliament.* * Alessandro D’ALFONSO is a policy analyst at the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) in Brussels. He is the author of many publications on EU budgetary affairs. In 2017-2018, he was EU Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI). As a Visiting Professor, he has taught on the EUPADRA Master on parliamentary procedures and legislative drafting at LUISS Guido Carli University (Rome). Before joining the European Parliament, he held different posts at the European Commission and previously worked as a manager in the private sector. He has written this paper in a personal capacity. Abstract The removal of internal border controls across most of the European Union (EU) has increased interdependencies between the Member States, triggering the emergence of many different EU common goods. In the fields of external border controls, asylum and migration, Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) implicitly recognizes the existence of such common goods and the challenges related to their effective provision, by establishing solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility between the Member States as the governing principle for relevant common policies. An analysis of negotiations on the EU´s Multiannual Financial Frameworks since 1993 and of data on budgetary implementation since 2000 shows that pooling of financial resources at EU level and the establishment of common structures have advanced slowly, despite efforts from the European Parliament and the European Commission to increase momentum. Both specific features of the EU budgetary provisions and institutional characteristics of these sensitive policy areas have contributed to the slow progress. Against this backdrop, the 2015-2016 surge in arrivals of asylum-seekers has led to an emergency-driven increase in joint financial efforts, which nevertheless remain limited as compared to national expenditure in the policy areas. Scattered data suggest that the latter is unevenly distributed across the Union. These questions acquire renewed salience in the context of the negotiations on the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. While pooling of financial resources at EU level cannot alone ensure fair sharing of responsibility, a series of possible developments in this domain have the potential to strengthen the contribution of the EU budget to the application of the principle that governs the common policies on external borders, asylum and migration according to the Treaty of Lisbon. Keywords EU budget, asylum, external borders, principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, EU common goods. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility: provision of EU common goods ................................................... 2 2.1 The origins of Article 80 TFEU and its use in EU budgetary instruments ................................................... 2 2.2 Scope and implications of solidarity in the EU legal framework in general and in Article 80 TFEU in particular ............................................................................................................................................................. 4 3. Pooling of policy-specific resources for external border control and asylum management through the EU budget ................................................................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Multiannual planning: financial frameworks since the Treaty of Maastricht ............................................... 8 3.2 Actual expenditure in the 2000-2016 EU budgets ...................................................................................... 16 3.3 Resources mobilised in the wake of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis ............................................................. 23 4. Other relevant financial resources in the EU budget ......................................................................................... 25 4.1 Other resources allocated within the European Union ................................................................................ 25 4.2 Resources allocated outside the European Union ....................................................................................... 28 5. National expenditure on asylum management and external border control by EU Member States .................. 32 5.1 Challenges and recent developments in the monitoring of relevant expenditure at national level ............. 32 5.2 Some tentative estimates in the field of asylum .......................................................................................... 34 5.3 A complex landscape in the field of external borders ................................................................................. 37 6. Possible developments in the post-2020 EU budget ......................................................................................... 38 6.1 Asylum, migration and borders in the debate leading to the proposals for the new MFF .......................... 39 6.2 Proposals for the 2021-2027 period ............................................................................................................ 41 6.3 Initial reactions and some points to watch during the negotiations ............................................................ 45 7. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................................... 47 Main references ..................................................................................................................................................... 50 List of main acronyms used AMF: Asylum and Migration Fund AMIF: Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund CEAS: Common European Asylum System CJEU: Court of Justice of the European Union COFOG: Classification of the Functions of Government DCI: Development Cooperation Instrument EASO: European Asylum Support Office EBF: External Borders Fund ECA: European Court of Auditors EDF: European Development Fund EIF: European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals ENI: European Neighbourhood Instrument ERF: European Refugee Fund ESIF: European Structural and Investment Funds ESF: European Social Fund eu-LISA: European Agency for the Operational Management of large-scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice EUROSTAT: Statistical Office of the European Union Frontex: European Border and Coast Guard Agency GDP: Gross domestic product GNI: Gross national income IBMF: Integrated Border Management Fund ISF: Internal Security Fund JHA: Justice and Home Affairs MFF: Multiannual Financial Framework OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development RF: European Return Fund SGP: Stability and Growth Pact SIS II: Schengen Information System SOLID: General Programme “Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows” TFEU: Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union VIS: Visa Information System 1. Introduction* Citizens regularly value free movement of people, goods and services within the European Union (EU) among the most positive and beneficial results of the EU.1 The removal of internal border controls for persons across most of the EU, which has played a