According to the current proposal of the European Commission, around 35 billion euro will be available to the EU for the next budget period (2021 to 2027) for border management and migration. This is almost three times as much as the budget allotted for the previous period, which amounted to around 13 billion euro.
The funding will extend to the protection of national borders as well as sea, air and postal borders and be available to all member states of the EU. “Bigger challenges need bigger resources – this is why we propose to almost triple the budget in this area. The reinforced funding will be pivotal in ensuring that we can implement our political priorities”, explains Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship.
The European Commission’s plan includes, among other things, a specific fund for customs control equipment on the external borders. It will comprise of around 1.3 billion euro intended for strengthening European customs enforcement and protecting the European market from illegal counterfeits. The funds will be used, for example, to maintain the equipment of European customs officials or to purchase new equipment such as scanners, automatic license plate recognition systems or mobile test laboratories. In addition, new investments in border management should lead to a standardization of the practices used by customs authorities, thus simplifying and accelerating the overall process.
“The EU’s 115,000 customs officials are on the frontline in protecting our citizens from counterfeit or unsafe goods and other forms of illicit trade,” explains Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs. “To support them in that vital task, we are today proposing a new fund worth 1.3 billion euro, for EU countries to acquire the most cutting-edge customs equipment. The EU’s Customs Union celebrates its 50th anniversary next month: we must ensure that it continues to go from strength to strength.”
