OREANDA-NEWS. The Parliamentary Secretary for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds Ian Borg announced that the Office of the Refugee Commissioner and the Malta Police Force will be benefiting from almost €2 million, of which approximately €1.5 million (75%) are financed from EU funding.  

The Responsible Authority has in fact approved two projects for the Malta Police Force valued at €1.2 million - under the Internal Security Funds (ISF) programme 2014-2020 - aimed at strengthening police capabilities vis-?-vis cyber-crime and integrating national police systems with international databases to increase its overall efficiency and enhancing Malta’s security. 

These projects include:

• Access to INTERPOL and EUROPOL databases for competent law enforcement authorities – worth over €560,000;

• Smart Policing – Enhancing the capabilities of the Cyber Crime Unit – worth over €670,000.  

Two projects will be implemented by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner (REFCOM) – under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020 and worth almost €800,000. These projects aim to strengthen the asylum procedure.

Both these projects are entitled as follows:

• The setting up of a unit that deals with requests related to Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the member States by a third country national or stateless persons (recast) – worth just over €100,000;

• Improving and strengthening the asylum determination procedure through the training and funds for interpreters, conducting asylum interviews through Skype or videoconferencing and use of language analysis and document analysis – worth over €640,000.