Government spending on immigration programmes in the 2016 budget proposal as well as the fiscal plan up to the year 2019 assumes that the number of asylum seekers entering the country will stabilise at 15,000 annually.
As a result the government says it plans to spend 150 million euros more on immigration-related costs in 2016 than it will this year. The government also noted in its budget presentation that the number of asylum seekers in 2014 was 3,600. The Interior Ministry meanwhile has estimated that total of refugees entering the country has already climbed to 14,000 so far this year. Moreover, the Interior Ministry previously estimated that new arrivals this year could reach as high as 30,000.
During this year the government has repeatedly revised its estimates of arriving asylum seekers, and has had to table three supplemental budget presentations to cover the rising cost of accommodation and integration expenses. A fourth supplemental budget proposal is also in the works.
Govt sticking to annual estimate of 15,000
On the basis of its estimate of 15,000 new asylum seeker arrivals each year, the government has budgeted 208 million euros for 2017, 280 million for 2018 and 316 million for 2019.
In spite of the fixed annual number of refugees expected, the state has steadily increased the allocation to account for the delay in the costs associated with paying social benefits to new arrivals.
Language training, child allowances and legal appeals to be calculated
For the most part government spending on immigration affects the operations of three different ministries. Institutions and agencies under the Interior Ministry incur costs for activities such as interviewing refugees, processing asylum applications, operating reception centres and executing deportations.
The task of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy is to reimburse local governments for the direct costs they rack up accommodating refugees, as part of a three-year system of financial support. Other agencies under the ministry’s umbrella are responsible for integration, language training and employment programmes.
However the longest delay in immigration-related costs is seen in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health as the administration eventually begins paying out benefits such as child allowances, housing aid and other social subsidies.
Immigration may also incur costs for other ministries and agencies, such as appeals against asylum decisions, which create administrative costs in the justice system. The government has also allocated more funding for legal protection of asylum seekers in the 2016 budget proposal.
Budget constantly under review
Under the circumstances the administration has repeatedly had to patch holes in its funding immigration programmes this year. In the next few weeks it will have to decide whether or not to request additional funds to deal with continuing asylum seeker arrivals in this year’s final supplemental budget proposal.
In November it will have another opportunity to update next year’s budget proposal, which was published Monday.