Europe To Fund Refugee Debit Cards in Turkey with Euro 348 M

The European Commission announced today the largest project for humanitarian aid in the history of the EU. The project is worth Euro 348 M and is aimed at helping over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. The money will be used to fund the debit cards which Turkish authorities have distributed to the refugees so that they can cover their expenses for food, accommodation and education of their children. The Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides assured journalists in Brussels that the Commission is capable of controlling whether the money is spent properly but did not specify how that is to be done.

On March 18, 2016, the state and government leaders of the EU and Turkey signed a joint declaration stating that the EU undertakes the obligation to help with the support of refugees in Turkey by providing Euro 6 B. On its part, Turkey is to stop illegal immigration towards Europe. Turkish authorities claim that they spend Euro 9 B annually on refugees and insist that the EU must bear a part of the burden.

The money is provided by a special fund with the EU called Refugee Facility for Turkey to the amount of Euro 3 B for 2016 and 2017. Euro 1 B comes from the European budget and the rest is provided by the member-states. The EU has, so far, signed contracts for humanitarian and non-humanitarian aid to the refugees in Turkey to the amount of Euro 652 M and Euro 181 M have already been paid, announced the Commission. Besides financial aid, the joint declaration undertakes to accelerate the accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU, and to implement a visa-free regime should Turkey fulfill all necessary criteria for this.