The estimated envelope “closes to the level of expenditure of 2016” (313 million). However, at the time, 85,000 asylum applications were filed, against an estimate of 135,000 for 2023.
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The government plans a drastic reduction in 2023 of the envelope allocated to the allowance for asylum seekers (ADA), which will be cut by 36% to reach 314 million euros against half a billion in 2022, according to a budget document annexed to the finance bill, consulted Thursday, October 6 by AFP.
To explain this fall of 176 million euros in the forecasts devoted to the ADA, paid during the study of applications for refugee status, the Ministry of the Interior anticipates in particular tighter processing times and a strengthening of the fight against fraud, we can read in the “budgetary blue” devoted to asylum and immigration. “The allocation amounts to 314.7 million euros (…). It is down 36% (-176.3 million euros) compared to the 2022 finance law”which provided for 491 million euros, according to the document.
The approximately 100,000 displaced Ukrainians received in France since March are also beneficiaries of this allowance. But “given the uncertainties surrounding the conflict and the evolution of flows, the corresponding forecast expenditure for 2023 is not presented here”, it is pointed out. In matters of immigration and asylum, “most budgets are increasing, but there is a regression in the ADA, while a priori the Ukrainians are not going to return tomorrow”is surprised Gérard Sadik, responsible for asylum issues at the association La Cimade.
“We can issue the ADA even if the amount exceeds the budget forecasts”nuance however with AFP Didier Leschi, the boss of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii) which pays this allowance, aware that to date the only displaced Ukrainians receive “27 million euros per month”. With 314 million euros, the provisional budget “close to 2016 level of spending” (313 million), according to the document. However, at the time, 85,000 asylum applications were submitted to the Ofpra, which rules on these applications, against an estimate of 135,000 for 2023.