(1)

While national security remains solely a competence of the Member States, protecting it requires cooperation and coordination at Union level. The Union’s objective of ensuring a high level of security within an area of freedom, security and justice pursuant to Article 67(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) should be achieved, inter alia, through measures to prevent and combat crime as well as through measures for coordination and cooperation between law enforcement authorities and other national authorities of the Member States, including coordination and cooperation with relevant Union agencies and other relevant Union bodies, and with relevant third countries and international organisations as well as with the help of the private sector and civil society.

(2)

For the period from 2015 to 2020, the Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament defined common priorities as set out in the European Agenda on Security of April 2015, which were reaffirmed by the Council in the renewed Internal Security Strategy of June 2015 and by the European Parliament in its Resolution of July 2015, namely preventing and combating terrorism and radicalisation, serious and organised crime and cybercrime. Those common priorities have been reaffirmed for the period from 2020 to 2025 in the Communication of 24 July 2020 from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled ‘the EU Security Union Strategy’.

(3)

In the Rome Declaration signed on 25 March 2017, the leaders of 27 Member States, the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission affirmed their commitment to working towards a safe and secure Europe and to building a Union where all citizens feel safe and can move freely, where the external borders are secured, with an efficient, responsible and sustainable migration policy, respecting international norms, as well as a Europe determined to fight terrorism and organised crime.

(4)

The European Council of 15 December 2016 called for continued delivery on the interoperability of information systems and databases. The European Council of 23 June 2017 underlined the need to improve the interoperability between databases, and, on 12 December 2017, the Commission put forward a proposal for a Regulation on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems (police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration).

(5)

To preserve the Schengen acquis and to contribute to ensuring a high level of security in the Union, Member States have, since 6 April 2017, been obliged to carry out systematic checks against relevant databases on Union citizens who cross the Union’s external borders. Furthermore, the Commission issued a recommendation to Member States on making better use of police checks and cross-border cooperation. Solidarity among Member States, clarity about the division of tasks, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms and for the rule of law, close attention to the global perspective and the necessary consistency with the external dimension of security should be key principles guiding Union and Member State action towards the development of an effective and genuine security union.

(6)

To achieve this objective, action should be taken at Union level to protect people, public spaces and critical infrastructure from increasingly transnational threats and to support the work carried out by Member States’ competent authorities. Terrorism, serious and organised crime, itinerant crime, drug and arms trafficking, corruption, money laundering, cybercrime, sexual exploitation, including the sexual exploitation of children, hybrid threats, as well as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, and trafficking in human beings, inter alia, continue to challenge the internal security of the Union. Internal security is a shared endeavour to which the Union institutions, relevant Union agencies and Member States should jointly contribute.

(7)

To contribute to the development and implementation of an effective and genuine security union aimed at ensuring a high level of internal security throughout the Union, an Internal Security Fund (‘the Fund’) should be set up and managed in order to provide Member States with adequate Union financial support.

(8)

Funding from the Union budget should concentrate on actions for which Union intervention can bring greater added value compared with action by Member States alone. In line with Article 84 and Article 87(2) TFEU, the Fund should support measures to promote and support the action of Member States in the field of crime prevention, the joint training of staff and police cooperation, as well as judicial cooperation in criminal matters involving Member States’ competent authorities and Union agencies, especially as regards the exchange of information, increased operational cooperation and support for necessary efforts to strengthen capabilities to prevent and combat terrorism and serious and organised crime. The Fund should also support training of relevant staff and experts, in line with the general principles of the European Law Enforcement Training Scheme (LETS). The Fund should not support operating costs and activities related to the essential functions of the Member States concerning the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal and national security as referred to in Article 72 TFEU.

(9)

The Fund should be implemented in full compliance with the values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the rights and principles enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’) and the Union’s international obligations as regards human rights. In particular, the Fund should be implemented in full respect of fundamental rights such as the right to human dignity, the right to life, the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to protection of personal data, the rights of the child and the right to an effective remedy, as well as in full respect of the principle of non-discrimination.

(10)

In line with Article 3 TEU, the Fund should support activities which ensure that children are protected against violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect. The Fund should also support safeguards and assistance for child witnesses and victims, in particular those who are unaccompanied or otherwise in need of guardianship.

(11)

In line with the shared priorities identified at Union level to ensure a high level of security in the Union, the Fund should support actions aimed at addressing the main security threats and, in particular, at preventing and combating terrorism and radicalisation, serious and organised crime, and cybercrime, as well as assisting and protecting victims of crime. The Fund should ensure that the Union and the Member States are also well equipped to address evolving and emerging threats, such as trafficking, including via online channels, hybrid threats and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, in order to establish a genuine security union. This should be pursued through financial assistance to support better information exchange, increase operational cooperation and improve national and collective capabilities.

(12)

The financial assistance provided through the Fund should in particular support exchanges of information, police cooperation, judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and prevention in the fields of serious and organised crime, illicit arms trafficking, corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, environmental crime, terrorism, trafficking in human beings, the exploitation of refugees and irregular migrants, severe labour exploitation, sexual exploitation and abuse, including the sexual exploitation and abuse of children and women, the distribution of child abuse images and child pornography, and cybercrime. The Fund should also support the protection of people, public spaces and critical infrastructure against security-related incidents and should support the preparedness for and effective management of security-related risks and crises, including through joint training, the development of common policies, such as strategies, policy cycles, programmes and action plans, as well as legislation and practical cooperation.

(13)

The Fund should provide financial support to address the emerging challenges posed by the significant increase in recent years in the scale of certain types of crime being committed via the internet, such as payment fraud, child sexual exploitation and trafficking in weapons.

(14)

The Fund should build on the results and investments of its predecessors: the Prevention of and Fight Against Crime (ISEC) programme, the Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism and other Security-related risks (CIPS) programme for the period 2007-2013, and the instrument for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management as part of the Internal Security Fund for the period 2014-2020, established by Regulation (EU) No 513/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3). The scope of the Fund should also allow for new developments to be taken into account.

(15)

There is a need to maximise the impact of Union funding by mobilising, pooling and leveraging public and private financial resources. The Fund should promote and encourage the active and meaningful involvement of civil society, including non-governmental organisations, as well as the European industrial sector, in the development and implementation of security policy, where relevant with the involvement of other relevant actors, Union bodies, Union agencies and international organisations in relation to the objective of the Fund. However, it should be ensured that support from the Fund is not used to delegate statutory or public tasks to private actors.

(16)

The cross-border nature of terrorism and serious and organised crime requires a coordinated response and cooperation within and between Member States and with competent Union bodies, offices and agencies. All competent authorities of Member States, including specialised law-enforcement services, may hold information that is valuable for effectively fighting terrorism and serious and organised crime. To accelerate exchanges of information, and to improve the quality of the information that is shared, it is crucial to build mutual trust. New approaches to cooperation and exchanging information, including in relation to threat analysis, should be explored and examined, taking into account existing frameworks within and outside the Union framework, such as the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (INTCEN), Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC), the European Counter Terrorism Coordinator and the Counter Terrorism Group. The Fund should support Member States’ competent authorities responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences, as referred to in Article 87 TFEU, insofar as their activities are covered by the scope of the Fund. All funded activities should fully respect the legal status of the different competent authorities and European structures and the required principles of information ownership.

(17)

In order to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of decentralised agencies with competences in the areas of law enforcement cooperation and training, drugs and drug addiction monitoring, fundamental rights, justice matters and large-scale IT systems, the Commission should involve the relevant decentralised agencies in the work of the Committee for the Home Affairs Funds set up by Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), especially at the beginning and mid-term of the programming period. Where appropriate, the Commission should also be able to involve the relevant decentralised agencies in monitoring and evaluation, in particular with a view to ensuring that the actions supported by the Fund comply with the relevant Union acquis and agreed Union priorities.

(18)

Within the comprehensive framework of the Union’s drugs strategy, which advocates a balanced approach based on a simultaneous reduction in supply and demand, the financial assistance provided under the Fund should support actions aimed at preventing and combating trafficking in drugs through supply and demand reduction, in particular measures targeting the production, manufacture, extraction, sale, transport, importation or exportation of illegal drugs, as well as possession and purchase for the purpose of engaging in drug trafficking activities. The Fund should also cover the prevention aspects of drugs policy. To achieve further synergies and coherence in the area of drugs, those elements of the objectives that relate to drugs, which for the period 2014-2020 were covered by the Justice programme, should be incorporated into the Fund.

(19)

In order to ensure that the Fund makes an effective contribution to a higher level of internal security throughout the Union, and thereby contributes to the development of a genuine security union, the Fund should be used in a way that provides the most Union added value to the actions of the Member States.

(20)

The Fund should support investments in equipment, means of transport and facilities only where such investments have clear Union added value, and only to the extent that those investments are necessary to achieve the objectives of the Fund. For example, such investments could include investments in equipment needed for forensics, covert surveillance, explosives and drug detection and any other specialised purpose within the objectives of the Fund. The Fund should not finance investments of purely national relevance or investments that would be necessary for the everyday work of the competent authorities, such as uniforms, cars, buses, scooters, police stations, non-specialised training centres and office equipment.

(21)

In the interests of solidarity within the Union, and in the spirit of shared responsibility for security in the Union, where weaknesses or risks are identified, in particular following a Schengen evaluation, the Member State concerned should adequately address those weaknesses by using resources under its programme to implement recommendations adopted pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 (5).

(22)

To contribute to the achievement of the policy objective of the Fund, Member States should ensure that the priorities of their programmes address all the specific objectives of the Fund, that the priorities chosen are in accordance with the implementation measures set out in Annex II, and that the allocation of resources between objectives is proportionate to challenges and needs and ensures that the policy objective can be met.

(23)

In keeping with the principle of efficiency, synergies and consistency should be sought with other Union funds, and overlap between actions should be avoided.

(24)

In order to maximise the effective achievement of policy objectives, to exploit economies of scale and to avoid overlaps between actions, the Fund should be consistent with and complementary to other Union financial programmes in the field of security. In particular, synergies should be ensured with the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Integrated Border Management Fund, which consists of the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1148, and the instrument for financial support for customs control equipment established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1077 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), as well as with the other Cohesion Policy Funds covered by Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7),

with the security research part of the Horizon Europe Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/695 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8), with the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/692 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), with the Justice Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/693 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10), with the Digital Europe Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/694 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11) and with the InvestEU Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/523 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12). Synergies should be sought in particular in relation to security of infrastructure and public spaces, cybersecurity, the protection of victims and the prevention of radicalisation.

(25)

In an effort to strengthen complementarities between the Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy, multipurpose equipment and ICT systems of which the primary use is in accordance with this Regulation should also be able to be used for achieving the objectives of the Instrument for Financial support for Border Management and Visa Policy.

(26)

Measures supported through the Fund in and in relation to third countries should be implemented in synergy and coherence with and should complement other actions outside the Union that are supported through the Union instruments. In particular, in implementing such actions, full coherence should be sought with the principles and general objectives of the Union’s external action, its foreign policy and its development aid policy in relation to the country or region in question. As regards the external dimension of the Fund, the Fund should enhance cooperation with third countries in areas of relevance to the Union’s internal security. In that context, funding from a thematic facility should be used to support actions in or in relation to third countries, within the objectives of the Fund, in particular in order to contribute to combating and preventing crime, including drug trafficking and trafficking in human beings, and to contribute to combating cross-border criminal smuggling networks.

(27)

When implementing the thematic facility, the Commission should ensure that the funding addresses the challenges and needs involved in meeting the objectives of the Fund.

(28)

Funding from the Union budget should concentrate on actions for which Union intervention can bring added value as compared to actions by Member States alone. Security has an inherently cross-border dimension and therefore a strong, coordinated Union response is required. Financial support provided under this Regulation should contribute, in particular, to strengthening national and Union capabilities in the security area.

(29)

A Member State may be deemed not to be compliant with the relevant Union acquis as regards the use of operating support under the Fund if it has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaties in the area of security, if there is a clear risk of a serious breach by that Member State of Union values when implementing the acquis on security, or if an evaluation report under the Schengen evaluation and monitoring mechanism laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 has identified deficiencies in the relevant area.

(30)

The Fund should address the need for increased flexibility and simplification, while respecting requirements in relation to predictability, and ensure that there is a fair and transparent distribution of resources to meet the objectives laid down in this Regulation. The implementation of the Fund should be guided by the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence, Union added value and quality of spending. Furthermore, the Fund should be implemented in the most user-friendly manner possible.

(31)

In order to optimise the added value from investments funded wholly or in part through the Union budget, synergies should be sought, in particular, between the Fund and other Union programmes, including those under shared management. To maximise those synergies, key enabling mechanisms should be ensured, including cumulative funding for an action from the Fund and from another Union programme. Such cumulative funding should not exceed the total eligible costs of that action. For that purpose, this Regulation should set out appropriate rules, in particular on the possibility of declaring the same cost or expenditure under both the Fund and another Union programme on a pro-rata basis.

(32)

When promoting actions supported by the Fund, the recipients of Union funding should provide information in the language or languages of the target audience. To ensure the visibility of Union funding, recipients of that funding should refer to its origin when communicating on the action. To that end, recipients should ensure that all communications to the media and the public display the Union emblem and explicitly mention the Union’s financial support.

(33)

It should be possible for the Commission to use financial resources under the Fund to promote best practices and the exchange of information as regards the implementation of the Fund.

(34)

The Commission should publish information on the support provided from the thematic facility under direct or indirect management in a timely manner and should update such information where appropriate. It should be possible to sort the data by specific objective, name of beneficiary, the amount legally committed and the nature and purpose of the measure.

(35)

This Regulation should establish the initial amounts for Member States’ programmes, calculated on the basis of the criteria laid down in Annex I.

(36)

The initial amounts for Member States’ programmes should form the basis for Member States’ long-term investments in security. To take account of changes in internal and external security threats or in the baseline situation, an additional amount should be allocated to the Member States at the mid-term of the programming period and should be based on the statistical data, in accordance with Annex I, taking into account the state of their programme implementation.

(37)

As challenges in the area of security are constantly evolving, there is a need to adapt the allocation of funding to changes in internal and external security threats and a need to steer funding towards the priorities with the highest Union added value. To respond to pressing needs and to changes in policy and Union priorities, and to steer funding towards actions with a high level of Union added value, part of the funding should be periodically allocated, via a thematic facility, to specific actions, Union actions and emergency assistance.

(38)

Member States should be encouraged to use part of their programme allocation to fund the actions listed in Annex IV by benefiting from a greater Union contribution, primarily because of their significant Union added value or their high importance for the Union.

(39)

Part of the available resources under the Fund could be allocated to Member States’ programmes for the implementation of specific actions which require cooperation among Member States, or to the implementation of specific actions in situations where new developments in the Union require additional funding to be made available to one or more Member States. The Commission should set out those specific actions in its work programmes.

(40)

The Fund should contribute to supporting operating costs that relate to internal security in order to enable Member States to maintain capabilities which are crucial for the Union as a whole. Such support should consist of the full reimbursement of specific costs that relate to the objectives of the Fund and should form an integral part of the Member States’ programmes.

(41)

To complement the implementation of the policy objective of the Fund at national level through Member States’ programmes, the Fund should also provide support for actions at Union level. Such actions should serve overall strategic purposes within the scope of intervention of the Fund in relation to policy analysis and innovation, transnational mutual learning and partnerships and the testing of new initiatives and actions across the Union or among certain Member States. The Fund should support Member States’ efforts, including at local level, to exchange best practices and to promote joint training, including awareness-raising among law enforcement staff regarding radicalisation, and all forms of discrimination, that could lead to violence, such as antisemitism, anti-gypsyism and other forms of racism. For that purpose, specialised exchange programmes for junior law enforcement staff could be funded.

(42)

In order to strengthen the Union’s capacity to react immediately to security-related incidents or to newly emerging threats to the Union, it should be possible to provide emergency assistance, in accordance with the framework set out in this Regulation. Such assistance should not be provided to support mere contingency or long-term measures or to address situations where the urgency to act results from the failure of competent authorities to plan and react properly.

(43)

In order to ensure the necessary flexibility of action and to respond to emerging needs, it should be possible for decentralised agencies to be provided with appropriate additional financial means to carry out certain emergency tasks. In cases where the task to be undertaken is of such an urgent nature that an adjustment of their budgets could not be finalised in time, decentralised agencies should be eligible to be beneficiaries of emergency assistance, including in the form of grants, consistent with priorities and initiatives identified at Union level by Union institutions.

(44)

In light of the transnational nature of Union actions, and in order to promote coordinated action to fulfil the objective of ensuring the highest level of security in the Union, decentralised agencies should exceptionally be eligible to be beneficiaries of Union actions, including in the form of grants, where they assist in the implementation of Union actions falling within the competences of the decentralised agencies concerned and those actions are not covered by the Union contribution to the budget of those decentralised agencies made through the annual budget. To ensure Union added value, such support should be consistent with the priorities and initiatives identified at Union level by Union institutions.

(45)

The policy objective of the Fund should also be addressed through financial instruments and budgetary guarantees under the policy windows of the InvestEU Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/523. Such financial support should be used to address market failures or sub-optimal investment situations in a proportionate manner, should not duplicate or crowd out private financing or distort competition in the internal market. Actions should have clear Union added value.

(46)

Blending operations have a voluntary nature and are operations supported by the Union budget that combine non-repayable forms of support, repayable forms of support, or both, from the Union budget with repayable forms of support from promotional, development or other public finance institutions, as well as support from commercial finance institutions and investors.

(47)

This Regulation lays down a financial envelope for the Fund, which is to constitute the prime reference amount, within the meaning of point 18 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources (13), for the European Parliament and the Council during the annual budgetary procedure.

(48)

Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) (‘the Financial Regulation’) applies to the Fund. The Financial Regulation lays down rules on the implementation of the Union budget, including the rules on grants, prizes, procurement, indirect management, financial instruments, budgetary guarantees, financial assistance and the reimbursement of external experts.

(49)

For the purposes of implementation of actions under shared management, the Fund should form part of a coherent framework that consists of this Regulation, the Financial Regulation and Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.

(50)

Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 establishes the framework for action by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, the Just Transition Fund, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy, as a part of the Integrated Border Management Fund, and it lays down, in particular, the rules concerning programming, monitoring and evaluation, management and control for Union funds implemented under shared management. Additionally, it is necessary to specify the objectives of the Fund in this Regulation, and to lay down specific provisions concerning the actions that may be financed under the Fund.

(51)

A pre-financing scheme for the Fund is set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, and a specific pre-financing rate is set in this Regulation. In addition, in order to ensure that it is possible to react promptly to emergency situations, it is appropriate to set a specific pre-financing rate for emergency assistance. The pre-financing scheme should ensure that Member States have the means to provide support to beneficiaries as of the start of the implementation of their programmes.

(52)

The types of financing and methods of implementation under this Regulation should be chosen on the basis of their ability to achieve the specific objectives of the actions and to deliver results, taking into account, in particular, the costs of controls, administrative burdens and the risk of non-compliance. When making that choice, the use of lump sums, flat rates and unit costs, as well as financing not linked to costs as referred to in Article 125(1) of the Financial Regulation, should be considered.

(53)

In order to make the most use of the single audit principle, it is appropriate to set specific rules on the control and audit of projects in which international organisations, the internal control systems of which have been positively assessed by the Commission, are the beneficiaries. For such projects, managing authorities should have the possibility of limiting their management verifications, provided that the beneficiary delivers all necessary data and information on the progress of the project and on the eligibility of underlying expenditure in a timely manner. In addition, where a project implemented by such an international organisation is part of an audit sample, it should be possible for the audit authority to carry out its work in line with the principles of the International Standard on Related Services (ISRS) 4400, ‘Engagements to Perform Agreed-upon Procedures Regarding Financial Information’.

(54)

In accordance with Article 193(2) of the Financial Regulation, a grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun, provided that the applicant can demonstrate the need for starting the action prior to signature of the grant agreement. However, the costs incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application are not eligible for Union financing, except in duly justified exceptional cases. In order to avoid any disruption in Union support which could be prejudicial to the Union’s interests, it should be possible, for a limited period of time at the beginning of the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework, that costs incurred in respect of actions supported under this Regulation under direct management and which have already begun, be considered eligible for Union financing as of 1 January 2021, even if those costs were incurred before the grant application or the request for assistance was submitted.

(55)

In accordance with the Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (15) and Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 (16), (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 (17) and (EU) 2017/1939 (18), the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. In particular, in accordance with Regulations (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrate investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is empowered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council (19).

In accordance with the Financial Regulation, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to fully cooperate in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors, and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and to ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights. Member States should cooperate fully and provide all necessary assistance to Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies in relation to the protection of the financial interests of the Union.

(56)

Horizontal financial rules adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on the basis of Article 322 TFEU apply to this Regulation. Those rules are laid down in the Financial Regulation and determine in particular the procedure for establishing and implementing the budget through grants, procurement, prizes and indirect implementation, and provide for checks on the responsibility of financial actors. Rules adopted on the basis of Article 322 TFEU also include a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget.

(57)

Pursuant to Council Decision 2013/755/EU (20), persons and entities established in overseas countries or territories are eligible for funding subject to the rules and objectives of the Fund and possible arrangements applicable to the Member State to which the relevant overseas country or territory is linked.

(58)

Pursuant to Article 349 TFEU and in line with the communication of the Commission of 24 October 2017 entitled ‘A stronger and renewed strategic partnership with the EU’s outermost regions’, endorsed by the Council in its conclusions of 12 April 2018, the relevant Member States should ensure that their programmes address the specific challenges which the outermost regions face. The Fund should support those Member States with adequate resources to help the outermost regions as appropriate.

(59)

Pursuant to paragraphs 22 and 23 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (21), the Fund should be evaluated on the basis of information collected in accordance with specific monitoring requirements, while avoiding an administrative burden, in particular on Member States, and overregulation. Those requirements, where appropriate, should include measurable indicators as a basis for evaluating the effects of the Fund on the ground. In order to measure the achievements of the Fund, indicators and related targets should be established in relation to each specific objective of the Fund. Those indicators should include qualitative and quantitative indicators.

(60)

Through indicators and financial reporting, the Commission and the Member States should monitor the implementation of the Fund in accordance with the relevant provisions of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and this Regulation. Starting from 2023, Member States should submit to the Commission annual performance reports covering the latest accounting year. Those reports should contain information on the progress made in the implementation of Member States’ programmes. The Member States should also submit summaries of those reports to the Commission. The Commission should translate those summaries into all official languages of the Union and make them publicly available on its website, together with links to the Member States’ websites referred to in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.

(61)

Reflecting the importance of tackling climate change in accordance with the Union’s commitments to implement the Paris Agreement, adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (22), and the commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the actions under this Regulation should contribute to the achievement of an overall target of 30 % of all multiannual financial framework expenditure being spent on mainstreaming climate objectives and to working towards the ambition of 7,5 % of the budget being spent on biodiversity expenditure in 2024 and 10 % in 2026 and 2027 while taking into account the existing overlaps between climate and biodiversity goals. The Fund should support activities that respect the climate and environmental standards and priorities of the Union and would do no significant harm to environmental objectives within the meaning of Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council (23).

(62)

Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (24) and any act applicable to the 2014–2020 programming period should continue to apply to programmes and projects supported under the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime and crisis management, as part of the Internal Security Fund during the 2014–2020 programming period. Since the implementation period of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 overlaps with the programming period covered by this Regulation, and in order to ensure continuity in the implementation of certain projects approved by that Regulation, provisions on the phasing of projects should be laid down. Each individual phase of the project should be implemented in accordance with the rules of the programming period under which it receives funding.

(63)

Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(64)

In order to supplement and amend non-essential elements in this Regulation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the list of actions eligible for higher co-financing rates set out in Annex IV, operating support under Annex VII and the further development of the monitoring and evaluation framework. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law Making. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(65)

In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (25). The examination procedure should be used for the adoption of implementing acts that lay down common obligations on Member States, in particular obligations concerning the provision of information to the Commission, and the advisory procedure should be used for the adoption of implementing acts relating to the detailed arrangements for the provision of information to the Commission in the framework of programming and reporting, given their purely technical nature. The Commission should adopt immediately applicable implementing acts relating to the adoption of decisions to award emergency assistance provided for by this Regulation where, in duly justified cases relating to the nature and purpose of such assistance, imperative grounds of urgency so require.

(66)

In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No 22 on the position of Denmark, annexed to the TEU and to the TFEU, Denmark is not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.

(67)

In accordance with Article 3 of Protocol No 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice, annexed to the TEU and to the TFEU, Ireland has notified its wish to take part in the adoption and application of this Regulation.

(68)

It is appropriate to align the period of application of this Regulation with that of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 (26).

(69)

In order to ensure continuity in providing support in the relevant policy area and to allow implementation to start from the beginning of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, this Regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency and should apply, with retroactive effect, from 1 January 2021,