EU finishes contracting $7.3 bln refugee deal with Turkey

The EU on Dec. 17 announced the finalizing contracting process of €6 billion ($7.3 billion) in aid for refugees hosted by Turkey, focused on the 4 million Syrian refugees who since 2011 fled the war in their home country for safe shelter in Turkey.

"The EU Delegation to Turkey signs the final eight contracts under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey [FRIT] this week. Under the contracts, the EU provides €780 million in support to refugees in terms of basic needs, health care, protection, municipal infrastructure and vocational and technical education and training, employment and support to private sector, SMEs and entrepreneurship," said the EU Delegation to Turkey in a statement.

In 2016 the EU and Turkey concluded a deal on refugees in which the EU promised to provide €6 billion in financial assistance to be used by the Turkish government to finance projects for Syrian refugees, and Turkey agreed to help stop irregular migrants from heading to Europe.

In the four years since, Turkey has complained that the EU failed to allocate the full €6 billion as pledged, as well as other promises, but today's finalization seems to complete the monetary plank of the deal.

For healthcare services, the EU is allocating €300 million to support the Migrant Health Services in Turkey program and Strengthening Health Care Infrastructure for All program.

The Turkish Family, Labour, and Social Services Ministry will also implement two projects "to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable refugees and access of these vulnerable persons, and those from host communities, to protective social services."

A social assistance project will provide 480,000 refugees with cash payments, and the EU is allocating €245 million for assistance.<...