Author: Eleonora Grassi
Committee: EPPO & Immigration Committee
Date: 30/05/2024
Among the funds provided by the European Union there is the FAMI.
FAMI means Fondo Asilo Migrazione ed Integrazione, it is a financial instrument part of the multiannual financial plan of the European Union introduced by Regulation 516/2014 and renewed by Regulation 1147/2021.The main targets are:
• Strengthening and developing the Common European Asylum System;
• Supporting legal migration to the Member States;
• Fighting illegal migration, facilitating effective, safe and dignified returns and readmissions in third countries;
• Improving support and fair sharing of responsibilities among the Member States of the European Union.
The FAMI supports actions contributing to the strategic objective (eg. development of national/regional/local strategies on asylum, staff training) and to the specific objective (eg. creation or improvement of reception and accommodation infrastructure, integration measures). It is implemented under: shared management which is managed by the European Commission with national authorities of each Member State, the amount is 6.270.000.000€ and direct/indirect management which is controlled only by the European Commission, the amount is 3.162.000.000€.
Whithin this context the Immigration Committee aims to provide information regarding the administration of European funds related to immigration and it examines the role of EPPO in ensuring effective protection of these funds and consequently preventing any action that could harm the financial interests of the European Union. The chairs are Francesco Testa who is an European Delegated Prosecutor in Rome and Luca Ferro who is the responsible for the procedures ex. art. 27 TUI at the Milan’s Prefecture.
To access resources national and regional authorities have to make proposals consistent with their national and regional schedules. In Italy this task is carried out by the National Plan, which defines the goals and interventions to be realised with the financial envelope of the FAMI.
One of the project that found space in 2018 was the G-START project (Salute Territorio Accoglienza Richiedenti Asilo e Titolari di Protezione Internazionale).
Migrants in Italy are entitled to free access to the services of the National Health Service under the same conditions as Italian citizens, but linguistic and cultural barriers can have a significant impact on effective access to health services, moreover the difficult conditions of the migration path have an increasing impact on the onset of vulnerability and health workers and reception workers often do not have specific training on these issues.
The project presented by ASL 5 in Rome, in collaboration with the International Migrant Organisation and the Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, won the FAMI 2014-2020 call and obtained a funding of 600.000€. The global purpose access to health care for asylum seekers and
holders of international protection living in the territory of ASL Roma 5, with particular reference to psycho-social vulnerabilities. To do this G-START implements an experimental model: the activation of coordination tools, web base, services for identifying/taking charge of psycho-social vulnerabilities, the definition/adoption of welfare standards and protocols, facilitated access for RTPI to ASL prevention services, training of health and reception staff, the adoption of audit tools and evaluation of the effectiveness of services, the use of a computerised data collection system to guarantee the continuity of care. At the end of the plan in 2021, it has been highlighted that it had an impact on the management of health services as well as on health and hospitality workers, on the RTPI and on the effective exercise of the right to health.
Unfortunately, in some cases, the funds made available by the European Union are misused. Abuse is a real phenomenon, it occurred both before and after the activity of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Before the EPPO was operational, there were five significant cases, one of these concerned Italy. In 2018, an operation carried out by the anti-mafia prosecutor’s office in Catanzaro in cooperation with OLAF established the involvement of many people linked to mafia in illegal activities around migrants’ registration centres, this situation led the European Office to ask the European Commission to deny Italy 1.400.000€ of European funding.
According to some, in our Country, non-compliance with the rules regarding the use of European funds is often due to too much hurry, especially in the South where they run to not lose available funds, or because small projects are created to avoid public tenders and manage everything directly with individuals. This leads to a problem of transparency and controls. which sometimes produces irregularities.