Today, the S&Ds led the way in securing an agreement with member states on establishing the Asylum and Migration Fund in the EU.

The European Parliament and the Council agreed a fund worth € 9.882 billion over the next seven years that makes solidarity a key objective, alongside actions covering support for the Common European Asylum System, legal migration and integration and returns. 

Tanja Fajon, European Parliament negotiator on establishing the fund, said:

“For Socialists and Democrats solidarity needs to be at the heart of Europe’s migration and asylum policy, but we need the resources to do that. Today’s agreement will not just deliver solidarity, but guarantees the EU is investing in integration projects and legal migration programmes that benefit not just the European economy, but society as a whole.

“For us, it was vital that we widened the net when it comes to giving support to any actions on legal migration and integration. We also fought hard to secure minimum funding levels for solidarity objectives (€ 740 million), as well as crucial channels of direct funding for local authorities (€ 180 million) that play such an integral role when it comes to integrating migrants across Europe.

“The new fund also recognises the important role that civil society plays in delivering success stories for migration and asylum in the EU and we made sure that partnerships with hard-working NGOs can be strengthened going forward.”