Internal Security Fund - Performance

Programme in a nutshell

Concrete examples of achievements (*)

^{(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Many come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance, where results often follow only after completion of the programmes. Data verifications are still ongoing in some Member States, in line with the procedure to assess the Annual Implementation Reports and the reporting cycle. Thus, the figures are not yet fully consolidated.}

Budget for 2021-2027

Rationale and design of the programme

The Internal Security Fund (ISF) contributes to ensuring a high level of security in the EU, in particular by preventing and combating terrorism and radicalisation, serious and organised crime and cybercrime, and by preparing for, protecting against and effectively managing security-related incidents, risks and crises.

Budget

Budget programming (million EUR):

^{(*) Only Article 15(3) of the financial regulation.}

  Financial programming:
  - EUR 39.8 million (- 2%)
  compared to the legal basis*

^{(*) Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.}

Budget performance – implementation

Multiannual cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):

Annual voted budget implementation (million EUR)⁽¹⁾:

^{(1) Voted appropriations (C1) only.}

Contribution to horizontal priorities

Green budgeting

Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):

• In line with the EU’s commitments to work towards achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals, the programme regulation commits (with no specific programme target) to contributing to the achievement of the EU’s goal of spending at least 30% of the total amount of the EU budget on supporting climate objectives and of the EU’s ambition to spend 7.5% of the annual EU budget on biodiversity in 2024 and 10% in both 2026 and 2027, all while considering the existing overlaps between climate and biodiversity goals.
• This could happen, for example, by focusing on green procurement regarding (here small scale) assets, infrastructure / information technology systems – subject to specific provisions ensuring the choice of products/services that reduce the climate impact by applying the best available technologies, the use of renewable energy in buildings, enhanced isolation and other items. For the time being there are no strict conditions set to national programming or project selection, but Member States are rather encouraged to prioritise environmental friendly actions.

Gender

Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):

<sup>(*) Based on the applied gender contribution methodology, the following scores are attributed at the most granular level of intervention possible:
- 2: interventions the principal objective of which is to improve gender equality;
- 1: interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective but not as the main reason for the intervention;
- 0: non-targeted interventions (interventions that are expected to have no significant bearing on gender equality);
- 0*: score to be assigned to interventions with a likely but not yet clear positive impact on gender equality.</sup>

• The programme is committed to the horizontal approach of the EU budget, in which equality between women and men, rights and equal opportunities for all and the mainstreaming of these objectives should be taken into account and promoted throughout the preparation, implementation and monitoring of relevant programmes.
• In the broader context, in order to receive payments from the Commission, Member States programmes for DG Migration and Home Affairs funds will have to comply with a number of horizontal enabling conditions, one of which concerns the effective application and implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, including the equality of men and women. The horizontal enabling conditions must be fulfilled throughout the entire programming period and Member States have to report on their application to the programme monitoring committee and the Commission.
• As regards the types of actions supported by the programme, training and knowledge sharing habitually tackle gender-specific issues, which is why they are considered as financial interventions which may have a potential to – among other things – impact gender equality. Therefore, the amount under the gender score 0* comprises interventions related to training and knowledge sharing, both in direct and shared management.

Digital

Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):

It is considered that activities under all specific objectives of the programme may partially contribute to the goal of digital transition by:

• improving and facilitating the exchange of information between and within competent authorities and relevant EU bodies, offices and agencies and, where relevant, with non-EU countries and international organisations;
• improving and intensifying cross-border cooperation, including joint operations, between competent authorities in relation to terrorism and serious and organised crime with a cross-border dimension;
• supporting the strengthening of Member States’ capabilities in relation to preventing and combating crime, terrorism and radicalisation, along with managing security-related incidents, risks and crises;

• the amount contributing to the goals of digital transition that comprises activities and interventions related to digitalisation of administration (government information and communication technology solutions, e-services etc.) in shared management.

Budget performance – outcomes

• The approval of the Member State programmes for 2021-2027, which represent the bulk of the resources of the programme, took place in the last quarter of 2022, in line with the timing of most programmes covered by the common provisions regulation (Regulation (EU) 2021/1060). Monitoring systems at the Member State level are currently being developed. 
• Given the very early stage of implementation and lack of structured data transmission in 2022, it is not yet possible to carry out any meaningful assessment of the progress towards the achievement of the targets only recently established by the Member States.
• Overall, the implementation of the programme will be inevitably affected by the energy crisis and the general increase in prices, especially as regards direct management, due to the mandatory use of fixed unit rates for certain types of costs. Based on the current legal framework, these rates cannot be actualised on account of inflation, so they can result in insufficient coverage of the real expenditures of the organisations involved in the implementation of the actions. This, in turn, can lead to reduced participation in future calls for proposals, as well as project activities that need to be removed from the scope of existing support, as they have become financially non-viable.
• More generally, continued pressure on resources could result in lower achievements at the level of the key performance indicators for the Member State programmes, but also influence implementation of transnational actions. This is already visible, especially in the area of law enforcement cooperation, which necessitates in-person gatherings severely impacted by pervasive increases in travel costs.
• Member States are already pointing to difficulties with the sudden increase in the price of most goods, which could not be fully anticipated in the target-setting methodologies. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine also means that the procurement of certain types of goods or services in the area of security may be affected.
• In view of their specific nature and legislative objectives, the performance of transnational Union actions cannot be fully captured by the key performance indicators, but they effectively complement the implementation of the policy objectives at the national level through Member States' programmes by developing policy analysis and innovation, transnational mutual learning and partnerships and the testing of new initiatives and actions across the EU. The actions financed under the 2021-2022 Thematic Facility have been starting since the second half of 2022, with some calls for proposals still remaining under evaluation. Through Union actions, in 2021-2022 the Commission has supported valuable projects in the area of countering child sexual abuse, cyber-crime, trafficking of human beings, police cooperation and law enforcement networks.

MFF 2014-2020 – Internal Security Fund ‘Police’ strand

The 2014-2020 programme provided financial resources with the objective of contributing to ensuring a high level of security in the EU, in particular by preventing and combating terrorism and radicalisation, serious and organised crime and cybercrime, and by assisting and protecting victims of crime and preparing for, protecting against and effectively managing security-related incidents, risks and crises.

Budget

Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):

Performance assessment

• Until the end of 2022, the Police strand has proven to be an effective programme, approaching its general objective to contribute to a high level of security in the EU. In particular, the interim evaluation concluded that the programme has been shown to be flexible enough to respond to the changing needs which emerged as a consequence of the security crises.
• The programme supports overall EU policies in the area of internal security, e.g. on police cooperation, preventing and combating serious and organised crime, protection of people and critical infrastructures. Transnational projects and projects of particular EU interest are being financed through Union actions. Therefore, the (bi)annual programming for Union actions offers a unique chance to align the actions to the most urgent and important needs identified on the ground (e.g. trafficking in human beings, child sexual abuse and corruption), along with allowing continuity, for example, on the European crime prevention network.
• The 2014-2020 programme was also instrumental in helping to provide technological and knowledge updates for European security. Examples include new detectors for chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological or explosive substances, the automated border control gates in airports and border crossing points and new technologies used by police forces for investigations involving the dark web.
• In terms of the overall performance of the programme, the analysis of the progress towards the targets shows very positive trends across the board of all specific objectives and indicators, with limited exceptions linked to reporting issues ⁽¹⁾.  By the end of 2022, the Police strand had attained an absorption rate of 85.45%, which can be considered satisfactory overall. The implementation of the programme will continue until 30 June 2024, after the adoption in April 2020 of the Commission’s proposal to extend the implementation period for the funding available to Member States under the 2014-2020 Home Affairs Funds by 1 year due to the crisis in Ukraine.
• Significant results have also been achieved in the frame of the support to the @On Network ⁽²⁾, such as the arrest of at least 411 criminals, the dismantling of 13 organised crime groups and approximately EUR 113 million seized, also due to the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics ⁽³⁾, with 47 tonnes of drugs worth EUR 2 667 billion sized in 2022.
• In terms of the main issues affecting performance, in 2020, 2021 and 2022, Member States reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to delays in project implementation due to delays in public procurement procedures, travel restrictions, difficulties in hiring staff, construction work due to lockdown and other restrictions especially for in-person activities such as training. The Russian war of aggression to Ukraine had also a bearing on the implementation of the activities, due to shifting policy priorities in the area of security, difficulties with the procurement of certain types of security equipment as well as the combined effects of the war and other supply chain issues on prices. Lastly, the timing for the negotiations of the legal base for large-scale IT systems was described as a factor limiting performance in a few cases. Mitigation measures included the extension of project duration, the re-design of training activities from in-person to remote activities as well as the active engagement of the Commission with a number of stakeholders to support the negotiations and agreement on the legal base of the large-scale IT systems.
• The main lessons learned during the 2014-2020 programming period include the following.
  • There has been insufficient cooperation, coordination and strategic steering in the implementation of the programme with other EU-level initiatives.
  • Better exploitation of innovation opportunities from EU civil security research is needed.
  • There is a need for simplification.
  • There was insufficient flexibility to respond to changing needs during the programming period.
• There is a need to strengthen performance monitoring in terms of the quality and frequency of data relating to the fund, with more regular and reliable data-setting. This is being tackled for the 2021-2027 programming period on the grounds of the new requirements contained in the legal basis and through joint work by the Commission and national managing authorities on data quality.

^{(1) The information coming from the Member States is not yet fully consolidated due the timing for the reporting cycle. The aggregated figures may also hide differences in performance at the Member State level. For person-related indicators, there could be instances of individual counted more than once}

^{(2) A law enforcement network that works to strengthen cooperation among law enforcement authorities against top-level organised criminal groups.}

^{(3) Which supports Europe’s fight against drug trafficking in the Atlantic and Mediterranean maritime and aerial domains.}

Contribution to the sustainable development goals