In the European Union, refugee policy lacks a medium- and long-term strategy that supports actors in the EU who are willing to receive and integrate refugees. This includes in particular the municipalities, which have not yet been sufficiently considered as independent actors.
In order not to see the reception of refugees as a burden, but rather to use it as an opportunity for sustainable development, we propose that the EU should establish an independent "Integration and Development Fund". From this, municipalities participating in a relocation program of protection seekers from Europe's external borders could directly receive funds for the reception and integration of refugees. Under our proposal, they would also receive the same amount of funding for their own municipal development projects.
From the perspective of European law, the first question to answer is whether the European Union's competence to establish such a fund can be derived from primary law. The legal opinion examines precisely this question.