The European Parliament has approved two new funds worth €9.88 million and €6.24 billion to help member states with better and more efficient migration management, especially for maritime rescue and the modernisation and digitisation of external borders.

The European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday adopted two new funds to help member states with migration management, external borders and integration. They are the 2021-2027 Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, worth €9.88 billion, and Integrated Border Management Fund, worth €6.24 billion.

These new financial instruments should mark a new stage in migration management in the EU, as Commissioner Ylva Johansson underscored, saying that “we are moving away from a permanent state of emergency funding, to focus on more structural support for migration management”.

“Europe is no longer in a migration crisis,” said Johansson on Tuesday in the European Parliament.

EP Rapporteur Tanja Fajon said that in the next seven years, the EU would determine 16 priority points for border control and migration management and the two new funds would enable the establishment of very clear rules on the use of European money. She stressed the importance of reaching an agreement between member states because the lack of an agreement puts human lives in danger.