Evaluation of European Migration and Security Funds for the Netherlands

Security and migration are important issues for the Netherlands and the European Union (EU). To support member states, the EU has set up three funds: the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the Internal Security Fund (ISF) and the Border Management and Visa Fund (BMVI). These funds help countries, including the Netherlands, develop and implement policies and projects on migration, security and border management.

Background

The European Commission has granted the Netherlands funding to implement projects from these funds. The three funds each have their own policy objectives and budgets:

• AMIF focuses on managing migration flows and strengthening common asylum and migration policies in the EU. The fund supports initiatives on asylum, legal migration, integration and return of migrants.
• The ISF consisted of two components during 2014-2020: ISF-Police, focusing on cooperation and information sharing between law enforcement agencies and tackling cross-border crime, and ISF-Borders, focusing on border management and visa processing. In the 2021-2027 period, ISF has been expanded to include measures to tackle cybercrime.
• BMVI is new for the 2021-2027 period and supports border management and a common visa policy, with the aim of promoting EU internal security.

Commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security, Ecorys conducted an evaluation to assess the impact and effectiveness of these European funds for the Netherlands. Our study included a mid-term evaluation of the AMIF, ISF and BMVI for the period 2021-2027 and a retrospective review of the AMIF and the Internal Security Fund for Police (ISF-P) for the period 2014-2020.

Key findings

Our evaluations provide insight into how the Netherlands manages and spends these resources on national security, migration and border management initiatives. The results of our evaluations provide valuable insights for the further development and improvement of migration and security policy in the Netherlands.

For the period 2024-2020, we conclude that the funds’ objectives were achieved at reasonable costs, despite the high deployment of human resources. In addition, measures have been taken to reduce the administrative burden. The funds have four advantages:

• Guaranteeing European commitments: The funds help the Netherlands meet European obligations and standards.
• Opportunities for new projects: The funds allowed projects to be implemented that would not have got off the ground without this funding.
• Wider reach of projects: Supported projects managed to reach a wider audience.
• Acceleration of project implementation: The availability of funds allowed projects to be realised faster.

Moreover, supported projects show lasting results, underlining the value of these funds.