Brussels, 19/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - While the refugee flows to Greece are becoming smaller under the effect of the EU-Turkey agreement that has been in force since 20 March, the European Commission announced its green light on Tuesday 19 April to a new series of projects financed for up to €110 million by the facility for refugees in Turkey.
This new sum includes €60 million in emergency humanitarian aid to cover urgent needs in food, healthcare and shelter for the migrants sent back to Turkey from Greece under this same EU-Turkey agreement, and €50 million in humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees.
This additional funding brings the aid thus far mobilised by the Commission for refugees to €187 million under the EU-Turkey agreement. The agreement is nevertheless much criticised by humanitarian and human rights NGOs, and there are many doubts as to its legality within the European Parliament (see EUROPE 11532 and 11531).
In a press release, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn gave assurances that this support accompanies the Commission's efforts to check the legal guarantees that Turkey must offer all migrants sent back to its soil.
Meanwhile, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides for his part stated that the EU has been delivering aid to the refugees in Turkey since the start of the refugee crisis. The facility for refugees in Turkey is equipped with €3 billion and Turkey will receive another €3 billion at the end of 2018 when the initial instalment has been spent. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)