13 February 2019
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is to conduct an audit of the "hotspots" set up in Greece and Italy, which "will assess whether support for Greece and Italy has achieved its objectives, and whether the asylum, relocation and return procedures have been effective and swift."
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The ECA is responsible for ensuring "that EU funds are correctly accounted for, are raised and spent in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations and have achieved value for money."
A recent ECA document says its inspection of the ten hotspots in Italy and Greece (five in each country) will examine whether:
"- EU-funded action has facilitated implementation of the hotspot approach in Italy and Greece;
- hotspot registration in these two Member States has covered all new irregular arrivals;
- the relocation mechanism has alleviated the pressure on frontline Member States;
- asylum procedures in Member States are sufficiently swift;
- non-EU citizens ordered to leave the EU actually returned;
- an effective performance monitoring framework is in place."
See: EU Migration management: Hotspots and beyond: Information on a forthcoming audit (pdf)
A previous report by the ECA said that the hotspot approach had "helped to significantly improve the registration, identification and security checking of migrants," but "despite considerable EU support, the auditors still found that reception facilities in both countries were not adequate to properly receive (Italy) or accommodate (Greece) the number of migrants arriving."
See: Migration hotspots are working, but critical issues remain, say EU Auditors (Press release, pdf) and: Full report (pdf)
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