OREANDA-NEWS. The European Commission last night awarded €10.17 million in emergency funding to Slovenia to help the country to manage the exceptional migratory flows it is currently facing. The funding comes from the Internal Security Fund – Borders and Visa (ISF) and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) which make available €4.918 million and €5.256 million respectively.

Commissioner Avramopoulos said,"To support Slovenia with the exceptional pressures it faces, I am pleased that we are able to make available more than €10 million to help improve the situation on the ground. This emergency funding will help the Slovenian authorities to better manage the high influx of migrants and better address the needs of new arrivals to the benefit of all countries on the Western Balkans migration route."

This money will finance measures, taken since 20 September 2015, to increase the police presence at the Croatian-Slovenian border which improve first reception capacities for new arrivals, boost the accommodation capacity in Slovenia by about 7,500 places, and cover the accommodation costs of police officers deployed from other Member States.

The emergency funding comes on top of the regular AMIF and ISF funds which Slovenia receives for the implementation of their national programmes for the period 2014-2020 – a basic amount of €14.73 million and €31.3 million respectively.

The European Commission has been consistently and continuously working for a coordinated European response on the refugees and migration front.

On 13 May 2015, the European Commission presented its European Agenda on Migration, setting out a comprehensive approach for improving the management of migration in all its aspects.

Two implementation packages under the Agenda, on 27 May 2015 and on 9 September 2015 have already been adopted and the measures therein are starting to be deployed.

The provision of emergency assistance under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund – Borders and Visa (ISF-B) is part of the Commission's overall efforts to implement the principle of solidarity through concrete and effective actions addressing urgent and specific needs of Member States facing high asylum and migratory pressure.

In the coming weeks the Commission will make available an additional €80 million through the AMIF Emergency Assistance Fund and an additional €20 million through the ISF-B Emergency Assistance Fund.