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

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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):

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  Financial programming:
  - EUR 44.7 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.}

The initial financial programming for the ISF of EUR 1.931 billion was affected by further modifications. On the one hand, it was reinforced from the AMIF by EUR 3.2 million through CPR article 26, EUR 7 million was added in the context of different budget procedures 2021-2024, the Fund also absorbed EUR 2.5 million of unused appropriations from the agencies. On the other hand, the ISF was reduced by EUR 58.1 million to finance various legislative initiatives concerning DG Migration and Home Affairs agencies. 

Budget performance – implementation

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

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Annual voted budget implementation (million EUR)^(*):

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Contribution to horizontal priorities

Green budgeting

Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):

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• 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 EU’s goal of spending at least 30% of the total amount of the EU budget on supporting climate objectives and its ambition to spend 7.5% of the annual EU budget on biodiversity in 2024 and 10% in both 2026 and 2027, while considering the existing overlaps between climate and biodiversity goals. 
• This could happen, for example, by focusing on green procurement regarding (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, etc. For the time being there are no strict conditions set for national programming or project selection, but Member States are encouraged to prioritise environmentally friendly actions. 

Gender

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

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• 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 considered and promoted throughout the preparation, implementation and monitoring of relevant programmes. 
• In the broader context, to receive payments from the Commission, the Member States’ programmes for DG Migration and Home Affairs funds will have to comply with several 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 must report on their application to the programme monitoring committee and the Commission. 
• As regards the types of action supported by the programme, training and knowledge sharing habitually tackle gender-specific issues, which is why they are considered to be financial interventions that may have the potential to impact gender equality, among other areas. Therefore, the amount under the gender score 0* is an estimate based on interventions relating to training and knowledge sharing 
• In the context of the midterm evaluations, which are currently being carried out and are expected to be finalised by the end of 2024, the potential to affect the gender equality of specific types of intervention will be examined in greater detail – and the gender score may be subject to variation. 

Digital

Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):

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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 is an estimate that is based on activities and interventions relating to the digitalisation of administration (government information and communication technology solutions, e-services, etc.) under shared management. 

Budget performance – outcomes

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• 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 funds covered by the common provisions regulation (Regulation (EU) 2021/1060).  
• By the end of 2023, it was not yet possible to identify any particular trends in the progress towards the targets ⁽¹⁾ of the key performance indicators listed above, with just 1 full year of implementation for the Member State programmes. However, as outlined in the budget implementation section, progress was visible in 2023 from a financial perspective. Operations were selected by the managing authorities across all three specific objectives, for a total cost that amounted to 28.4% of the Member State programmes’ allocations. 
• Overall, in 2023, Member States focused on launching calls for proposals, selecting operations as well as the preparatory work for specific actions. Reporting on outputs, and especially result indicators ⁽²⁾, is expected to gain momentum at a slightly later stage, once the number of operations reaches cruising speed.
• The first achievements recorded relate to events such as workshops, seminars and study visits across the three specific objectives. Under specific objective 1, on the exchange of information, the first achievements relate to Member States’ information and communications technology systems being made interoperable with security-relevant EU and decentralised information systems or international databases. Under specific objective 2, on cross-border operations, the first achievements are being recorded on cross-border operations carried out, including Joint Investigation Teams and EMPACT operational actions, resulting in the first recording of assets being frozen in the context of cross border operations. Under specific objective 3, on preventing and combating crime, early achievements were recorded in relation to the launch of projects to prevent crime and assist its victims, and in relation to the development of initiatives to prevent radicalisation. Training was organised for staff, with the first participants reporting that, 3 months following the training session, they were using the skills acquired. 
• As of 2023, there was no clear indication of issues with the implementation of the programmes that suggest the targets will not be met, except for external factors such as the general increase in prices and issues with the supply chain due to the deterioration in the geopolitical context or difficulties with the initial target setting. These elements may result, as part of the midterm allocation process, in duly justified changes to the targets being established by the Member States. However, some Member States report difficulties with administrative capacity, due in part to the two overlapping funding periods and the novel requirements being introduced by the new legal basis. Public procurement procedures are also being mentioned by almost half of the Member States as an area where difficulties have been experienced and may cause some delays. Member states also mention remedy actions put in place to mitigate the impact of these issues, which include work on procedures, hiring of personnel, cooperation with the European Commission, the use of technical assistance and continued monitoring of the situation. 
• The implementation of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum will create a stronger basis for a comprehensive approach at the EU level that will also have to take into account security threats. To safeguard the internal security of the Schengen area, the new pact will need to be complemented by other actions, such as combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. 
• The general increase in prices will also affect direct management, due to the mandatory use of fixed unit rates for certain types of costs. Despite a partial revision of the underlying legal framework, these rates remain unfavourable, and they may result in insufficient coverage of the real expenditure by the organisations involved in implementing the actions. This, in turn, may lead to reduced participation in future calls for proposals, along with 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 influence the implementation of transnational actions. This is already visible, especially in law enforcement cooperation, which necessitates in-person gatherings that have been severely impacted by pervasive increases in travel costs. 
• In view of their specific nature and legislative objectives, the performance of transnational EU actions cannot be fully captured by the key performance indicators focused on capacity building and intensifying cross-border cooperation, 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. Of 60 actions financed under the 2021-2022 Thematic Facility, 54 started in 2023, and their results are expected to be communicated to the Commission in 2025 and 2026. For the 2023-2025 Thematic Facility, calls for proposals of strategic importance to the fight against organised crime and the protection of public spaces and places of worship were published in the end of 2023. Through EU actions, the Commission is supporting valuable projects countering corruption, child sexual abuse, cybercrime and the trafficking of human beings and drugs, and is supporting the protection of public spaces and places of worship, along with police cooperation and law enforcement networks. 

^{(1) As is standard practice for shared management programmes, and in line with the legal framework, the milestones and targets have been established by the Member States based on their strategy and needs assessments and in line with the available resources indicatively planned in the programmes across predefined types of interventions. The Member States are indeed best placed to tailor the design of the programmes to their national context and needs. The methodology for target setting was shared with the Commission, which also provided methodological advice to the Member States. The milestones, targets and related methodology can be adjusted during the programming period in duly justified cases, such as a revision of the programme's strategy, relevant external contextual factors and changes in the distribution or volume of the available resources, and following a review by the Commission. An overall assessment of the relevance of the strategy and its targets compared to the evolving needs at both the Member State and the EU level will be part of the midterm evaluation of the programme.}

^{(2) The performance assessment section is based on the latest available data for the key performance indicators. For those indicators that are based on the data transmitted by the Member States in the Annual Implementation Reports, the cut off date is 2022. This is clarified in the meta data annexed to the Programme Performance Statements, and due to the fact that information on the achievements in 2023 will only be included in the Final Implementation Reports, due by the end of 2024.}

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):

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Performance assessment

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• 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 EU actions. Therefore, the (bi)annual programming for EU 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 (³). 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 (⁴), 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 (⁵), 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 basis 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 basis 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. 

Contribution to the sustainable development goals