Brussels, 26/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 26 July, European Commission Spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, refuted the allegations from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, claiming that the Europeans were not keeping their promises with regard to the €3 billion for Syrian refugees in Turkey.
During the Spokesperson's daily press briefing, he explained “The EU is respecting its commitments and suggestions to the contrary are not true”. Schinas said that €740 million had already been allocated and €105 million of it had already spent, explained one European source. The Spokesperson also announced that the Commission was gearing up to “adopt a special measure in addition of 1.4 b to help refugees and host communities in Turkey. Bringing the total allocation to 2.15 billion before the end of the month. That will actually prove that we have respected our commitments”.
The Commission Spokesperson pointed out that the funds were for refugees and reception communities and not for “Turkey or its government”.
At a more general level, Schinas explained that “The EU continues to fulfil its commitments under the EU/Turkey statement”. He also said that he expected the same from the Turkish side, as well as continued cooperation on refugees and migration.
On 25 July in an interview with the German state TV channel, ARD, Erdogan said that the “European governments were dishonest… 3 million Syrians or people from Iraq are not in Turkey at this moment… And the EU has not kept its promises on the matter”. He added that out of the €3 billion promised, there has only been “€1-2 million” paid out. Erdogan estimated that his country's expenses in helping refugees were around $12 billion. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)