(18 February 2016) – Two briefing notes on EU funding instruments and networks to support labour market integration of refugees have been prepared by Policy Department A for the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.
A first note gives an overview of relevant instruments including those for migrants with a view to the changed situation and needs.
– In the medium term, the European Social Fund will gain increasing importance for the integration of refugees.
– As part of the European Agenda for Migration, the Commission has been promoting a flexible and effective use of the existing funds for refugees and called not to lose sight of other disadvantaged groups.
– The Commission has implemented a number of activities to enhance the effectiveness of European funding 2014-2020 as regards monitoring of complementarity, building up result-oriented evaluation, streamlining and simplification.
– First ideas have been floated to create additional European funding instruments, such as a Common European Refugee Integration Fund targeted at municipalities. So far, this has not triggered a more concrete policy debate.