The European Commission proposed on Wednesday 3 June new support for Syrian refugees and host communities in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan totalling €585 million.
Of these funds, €100 million will go to Jordan and Lebanon to support the needs of daily life, access to education and the provision of health, sanitation, waste management and social protection services.
The remaining €485 million will be used to support refugees in Turkey in 2020 and to continue the EU's two flagship humanitarian programmes until the end of 2021: the Emergency Social Safety Net Programme (ESSN) and the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education (CCTE).
Through the ESSN, implemented by the International Red Cross, the EU provides monthly financial assistance to more than 1.7 million refugees and the CCTE project, managed by UNICEF, helps more than 600,000 refugee children to attend school regularly.
The Commission's proposal, to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council, was immediately welcomed by the European Parliament.
For Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D, Spain) and the chair of the Parliamentary delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens/EFA, Germany), this proposal shows that the EU remains "committed to improving the situation of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, especially in Turkey". "The decision on the new funds is urgent, as some of the most relevant programmes will run out of funds in September 2020", they said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)