LegalizeCommission Decision of 24 November 2015 on the coordination of the actions of the Union and of the Member States through a coordination mechanism — the Refugee Facility for Turkey
Article 1
Establishment of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey
This Decision establishes a coordination mechanism — the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (‘the Facility’) — to assist Turkey in addressing the immediate humanitarian and development needs of the refugees and persons eligible for subsidiary protection and their host communities, national and local authorities in managing and addressing the consequences of the inflow of refugees and persons eligible for subsidiary protection.
Article 2
Objectives of the Facility
The Facility aims at coordinating and streamlining actions financed from the Union’s budget and bilateral contributions from Member States.
The specific objective of the Facility is to enhance the efficiency and complementarity of support provided to refugees and persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and their host communities, national and local authorities in managing and addressing the consequences of the inflow of refugees and persons eligible for subsidiary protection.
The Commission shall ensure that all actions undertaken under the Union’s external financing instruments as well as individual measures by Member States are complementary to those coordinated under the Facility.
Article 3
Scope and form of support
The Facility shall co-ordinate the Union and Member States' actions by setting priorities and by indicating the instruments to be used for the efficient implementation of the actions, in accordance with the mechanism set out in Article 5 of the present Decision.
Through the Facility the provision of humanitarian, development and other assistance to refugees and host communities, national and local authorities in managing and addressing the consequences of the inflows of refugees will be coordinated.
Types of actions coordinated through the Facility may cover, inter alia:
- (a) The provision of humanitarian assistance to refugees;
- (b) Support contributing to integration in the labour market, access to education and social inclusion of refugees and host communities, including in terms of provision of adequate infrastuctures;
- (c) Support to the national and local authorities to address the consequences of the presence of Refugees in Turkey, including in terms of migration flows management and provision of adequate infrastructures.
The assistance may take the form of grants, except if the nature of the project to be financed requires another form of support, in line with Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 236/2014.
The Commission shall ensure that equality between men and women and the integration of the gender perspective are taken into account and promoted during the various stages of the implementation of the Facility.
The Commission shall take appropriate steps to prevent any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in obtaining access to the projects supported by the Facility.
Article 4
Coordination of resources under the Facility
The Facility shall coordinate an amount of EUR 3 000 000 000 for 2016- 2017, and an additional amount of EUR 3 000 000 000 for 2018-2019.
EU budget contribution
EUR 1 000 000 000 out of the overall amount of EUR 3 000 000 000 for 2016-2017 and EUR 2 000 000 000 out of the overall amount of EUR 3 000 000 000 for 2018-2019, shall be financed from the Union budget, subject to subsequent individual financing decisions in accordance with Article 84(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and in accordance with its financial rules and the requirements of the respective basic act.
Member States' contributions
On the basis of their pledged financial contributions, Member States will provide an amount of EUR 2 000 000 000 for 2016–2017 on the basis of the breakdown of contributions based on the Gross National Income (GNI) key based on the 2015 Union budget and an amount of EUR 1 000 000 000 for 2018-2019 on the basis of the breakdown of contributions based on the GNI key based on the 2018 Union budget.
Article 5
Steering committee
The steering committee of the Facility shall:
- (i) provide strategic guidance on the coordination of the assistance to be delivered. The strategic guidance shall consist in setting overall priorities, types of actions to be supported, the instruments to be used for the efficient implementation of the actions and the coordination of the actions as well as, when appropriate, conditions relating to the implementation by Turkey of its commitments under the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan for the delivery of assistance.
- (ii) permanently monitor and assess the implementation of the actions coordinated under the Facility, including respect of the conditionality requirements, having regard to the assessments carried out by the structures established with the purpose of monitoring progress in the implementation of the commitments reflected in the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan.
- (iii) examine the disbursement forecasts relating to the implementation of actions submitted by the Commission and, where appropriate, may propose that the Commission defer all or part of the call related to one or more later instalments due.
- (iv) monitor contributions from Member States, according to the contribution schedule provided for in the contribution certificate of each Member State.
The steering committee shall be composed of two representatives of the Commission and one representative of each Member State.
As far as possible the steering committee shall provide its strategic guidance by consensus. In the event of a vote, the outcome of the vote shall be decided by a simple majority of the members.
Turkey shall be a member of the steering committee in an advisory capacity with respect to pargraph (1) (i) and (ii), so as to ensure full coordination of the actions on the ground, except when the steering committee examines strategic guidance concerning conditions relating to the implementation by Turkey its commitments under the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan for the delivery of the assistance or monitors and assesses the respect of these conditions.
It shall be ensured that Member States and the Commission representatives in the Committee are not in a situation of conflict of interests, as defined by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.
The Commission shall chair the steering committee and shall have a leading role in coordinating its work.
The Commission shall have a right to veto strategic guidance of the steering committee with the sole aim of ensuring the legality of any subsequent decision, including its compatibility with its responsibility for implementing the Union's budget. Where the Commission intends to use this right, it shall justify, upon request, why a draft decision would be inconsistent with any of the aforementioned requirements.
Upon proposal by the Commission, the steering committee shall draw up and adopt its rules of procedure within three months of the date of adoption of this Decision.
The secretariat of the facility shall be provided by the Commission.
Article 6
Implementation modalities
The Commission shall select and coordinate the implementation of the relevant actions, in particular through ex-ante screening of proposed actions.
Priority will be given to actions providing immediate humanitarian, development and other assistance to refugees and host communities, national and local authorities in managing and addressing the consequences of the inflows of refugees.
The Turkish authorities shall be consulted in respect to all actions other than those providing immediate humanitarian assistance.
The Commission shall have regular meetings with the Member States competent authorities and the appropriate authorities in Turkey.
Actions and measures to be coordinated under the Facility will be implemented in accordance with the financial rules applicable to the Union's budget and the requirements of the respective basic acts.
No interest shall be due for the late payment by a Member State of a contribution to the Facility for Refugees in Turkey.
Member States’ contributions aimed at financing actions and measures selected and coordinated in accordance with the present Decision shall be included into the Union’s budget as external assigned revenue in accordance with Article 21(2)(b) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. These financial contributions shall either be implemented directly by the Commission pursuant to point (a) of Article 58(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 or indirectly by entrusting budget implementation tasks to entities pursuant to Article 58(1)(c) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, including bodies governed by the private law of a Member State.
In the management of the amounts coordinated under the Facility the strategic guidance provided by the steering committee refererred to in Article 5 shall be fully taken into account, in particular with regard to the conditions of the delivery of the assistance.
Actions providing immediate humanitarian assistance which are coordinated under the Facility will be selected and implemented in accordance with the principles laid down in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid.
Article 7
Visibility
The Commission shall provide information on and promote the actions supported by the Facility so as to ensure its visibility.
Article 8
Information, monitoring and evaluation
The Commission shall keep the European Parliament and the Council regularly informed about the implementation of the Facility.
The Commission shall report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the Facility.
The Commission, in full coordination with Member States, shall carry out an evaluation of the first tranche of the Facility by 31 December 2021, and of the second tranche by 31 December 2023.
Article 9
Final provisions
This Facility is established from 1 January 2016 for financial contributions under the budgetary years 2016-2017 and for financial contributions under the budgetary years 2018-2019. It will be managed on the basis of Member States contributions and their timing, communicated to and acknowledged by the Commission.
The Commission shall review the financial capacity, duration and nature of the funding by 31 December 2016.
[^E0001]: (1) As amended by Commission Decision C(2016) 855 final.
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