Council Decision of 25 June 2007 establishing the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals for the period 2007 to 2013 as part of the General programme ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’ (2007/435/EC) (repealed)

CHAPTER III U.K. FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK

Article 11 U.K. Global resources

1. The financial envelope for the implementation of actions financed by the Fund for the period from 1 January 2007 until 31 December 2013 shall be EUR 825 million.

2. The annual appropriations for the Fund shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the Financial Framework.

3. The Commission shall make indicative annual breakdowns by Member States in accordance with the criteria established in Article 12.

Article 12 U.K. Annual distribution of resources for eligible actions in the Member States

1. Each Member State shall receive a fixed amount of EUR 500 000 from the Fund's annual allocation.

This amount shall be fixed at EUR 500 000per annum for Member States which will accede to the European Union during the period from 2007 to 2013, for the remaining part of the period from 2007 to 2013 as from the year following their accession.

2. The remainder of the available annual resources shall be broken down between the Member States as follows:

(a) 40 % in proportion to the average of the total number of legally residing third-country nationals in Member States over the previous three years; and

(b) 60 % in proportion to the number of third-country nationals who have obtained an authorisation issued by a Member State to reside on its territory over the previous three years.

3. However, for the purpose of the calculation referred to in paragraph 2(b), the following categories of persons shall not be included:

(a) seasonal workers, as defined under national law;

(b) third country nationals admitted for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service in accordance with Council Directive 2004/114/EC(1);

(c) third country nationals admitted for purposes of scientific research in accordance with Council Directive 2005/71/EC(2);

(d) third country nationals who have received a renewal of an authorisation issued by a Member State or a change of status, including third-country nationals who acquire long-term resident status in accordance with Council Directive 2003/109/EC.

4. The reference figures shall be the latest statistics produced by the Commission (Eurostat) on the basis of data provided by Member States in accordance with Community law.

Where Member States have not supplied the Commission (Eurostat) with the statistics concerned, they shall provide provisional data as soon as possible.

Before accepting these data as reference figures, the Commission (Eurostat) shall evaluate the quality, comparability and completeness of the statistical information in accordance with normal operational procedures. At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide it with all the necessary information to do so.

Article 13 U.K. Financing structure

1. The Fund's financial contribution shall take the form of grants.

2. Actions supported by the Fund shall be co-financed by public or private sources, shall be of a non-profit nature and shall not be eligible for funding from other sources covered by the general budget of the European Union.

3. Fund appropriations shall be complementary to public or equivalent expenditure allocated by Member States to the measures covered by this Decision.

4. The Community contribution to supported projects, as regards actions implemented in the Member States under Article 4, shall not exceed 50 % of the total cost of a specific action.

This may be increased to 75 % for projects addressing specific priorities identified in the strategic guidelines as defined in Article 16.

The Community contribution shall be increased to 75 % in the Member States covered by the Cohesion Fund.

5. Within the framework of the implementation of national programming as set out in Chapter IV, Member States shall select projects for financing on the basis of the following minimum criteria:

(a) the situation and requirements in the Member State;

(b) the cost-effectiveness of the expenditure, inter alia in view of the number of persons concerned by the project;

(c) the experience, expertise, reliability and financial contribution of the organisation applying for funding and any partner organisation;

(d) the extent to which the project complements other actions funded by the general budget of the European Union or as part of national programmes.

6. As a general rule, Community financial aid for actions supported by the Fund shall be granted for a period of no more than three years, subject to periodic progress reports.

Article 14 U.K. Technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission

1. At the initiative of and/or on behalf of the Commission, subject to a ceiling of EUR 500 000 of the Fund's annual allocation, the Fund may finance the preparatory measures, monitoring, administrative and technical support measures, as well as evaluation, audit and inspection measures necessary for implementing this Decision.

2. Those measures shall include:

(a) studies, evaluations, expert reports and statistics, including those of a general nature concerning the operation of the Fund;

(b) information measures for the Member States the final beneficiaries and the general public, including awareness-raising campaigns and a common data base on the projects financed under the Fund;

(c) the installation, operation and interconnection of computerised systems for management, monitoring, inspection and evaluation;

(d) the design of a common framework for evaluation and monitoring as well as a system of indicators, taking into account, where appropriate, national indicators;

(e) improvements in evaluation methods and the exchange of information on practices in this field;

(f) information and training measures for the authorities designated by Member States in accordance with Chapter V, complementary to the efforts of the Member States to provide guidance to their authorities in accordance with Article 30(2).

Article 15 U.K. Technical assistance at the initiative of Member States

1. At the initiative of a Member State, for each annual programme, the Fund may finance preparatory measures, management, monitoring, evaluation, information and control measures, as well as measures for the reinforcement of the administrative capacity for the implementation of the Fund.

2. The amount set aside for technical assistance under each annual programme may not exceed:

(a) for the period 2007 to 2010, 7 % of the total annual amount of co-financing allocated to that Member State, plus EUR 30 000; and

(b) for the period 2011 to 2013, 4 % of the total annual amount of co-financing allocated to that Member State, plus EUR 30 000.

(1)

OJ L 375, 23.12.2004, p. 12.

(2)

OJ L 289, 3.11.2005, p. 15.