This Tuesday 5 March, Fedasil received in Brussels a delegation of the EUAA composed of the executive director Nina Gregori and several members of the management board of the European agency.

This meeting consisted in a guided tour of the arrival centre (the "Petit-Château" in Brussels) and a moment of exchange with the Steering Committee of Fedasil. An opportunity to discuss the successful collaboration between the EUAA and Fedasil. At the end of the visit, Nina Gregori stated that she had found it fascinating to see the reality in the field.

Three forms of support

Since 2022, Fedasil has benefited from the temporary support of the EUAA in the form of an operational plan to increase the capacity and quality of reception in Belgium.

This support involves providing experts and interpreters in our reception centres as well as containers and housing:

• The EUAA experts deployed in the centres of Fedasil work as social assistants, educators, supervisors (22 experts in total). Experts are also present at the arrival centre and at the head office of Fedasil (15 persons) for a strategic and project management support.
• The EUAA interpreters are currently 40 in the federal centres, and 3 for the accompaniment of the Ukrainians. This support is also available for all centres via a system of video conferencing.
• EUAA containers are present in about ten Fedasil centres (150 containers representing 250 places + sanitary facilities). In addition, 522 containers (representing approximately 750 places + sanitary facilities) will be installed in 2024 and spread over two new temporary sites (in Ypres and Charleroi). The Belgian Red Cross will be in charge of the organisation of the container villages.

Several new deployments of experts and interpreters are still planned during the year 2024. Moreover, the EUAA also provides staff support in the form of trainings.

EUAA? The European Union Agency for Asylum is an agency of the European union mandated with supporting Member States in applying the package of EU laws that governs asylum, international protection and reception conditions, known as the "Common European Asylum System" (CEAS).

One of the missions of this Agency is to provide technical assistance to the member countries that are facing a disproportionate migratory pressure, which is the case of Belgium. An operational plan was signed with Belgium in December 2021. This is a temporary crisis measure, not a structural assistance. https://euaa.europa.eu/