628 million euros for the period 2008-2013: that’s the total budget proposed by the Commission for the European Refugee Fund (ERF), the EU facility at the service of policies for the assistance of refugees and asylum seekers. The Executive also proposes a series of changes to the Fund to “increase the solidarity” of Europe and offer the member states most involved in the phenomenon of the influx of boatpeople – as Commissioner for Justice Franco Frattini put it – “prompt and easily accessible financial aid to implement emergency measures”. The Commission’s proposal has four main objectives: improving the quality of the EU decision-making process in the framework of the asylum regime; assisting reception structures; resettling in their home territories of refugees threatened in their first host country; coordinating the transfer of the beneficiaries of protection from one member state to another. http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/funding/refugee/funding_refugee_en.htm
