The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed, on Friday 25 June, that she had received the green light from the leaders of the Member States to prepare a new €3 billion package to help refugees in Turkey, the country hosting the bulk of Syrian refugees (see EUROPE 12748/3).
She will also ask Member States for additional funding actions for Lebanon and Jordan, which are also hosting refugees.
“These countries have been supporting refugees for 10 years now. It is up to us to help them now”, she said after the European Summit.
The €3 billion for Turkey will come mainly from the EU budget, she said, and will be allocated until 2024. The funds will be targeted this time on more social and economic aspects in order to help refugees integrate into employment, whereas the humanitarian dimension was the priority in the first allocations in 2016. The funds will also help Turkey manage its “eastern” borders, the President said.
The Commission will soon put a formal proposal on the table, she added.
Divided opinion on the discussion ‘Migration’
Otherwise, the EU leaders’ discussion on migration on Thursday evening was very short, with a modest outcome, and focused mainly on the external dimension (see EUROPE 12748/4).
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said he was “satisfied” with the outcome on Friday, even though the issue had not been on the agenda for “3 years”.
“Everything we asked for has been taken up. My objective was not to have an agreement on the relocation (of asylum seekers, editor’s note). All the signals were that it was premature. We need an agreement that suits everyone”, said the Italian Prime Minister after the meeting. And this agreement will probably be reached through agreements between groups of countries and not through compulsory relocation, which will not be accepted.
These conclusions “do not represent an extraordinary step forward”, said the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who, during the summit, expressed Spain’s desire “to move forward with the Pact on Migration and Asylum”. He referred to the “need to find a balance between solidarity and responsibility. On solidarity, it is important that the alternatives that are put in place are realistic and easy to implement”.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that talking only about the external dimension was a “good thing”. The EU “has the task of combating illegal immigration, fighting traffickers and preventing people from travelling to Europe illegally. This must be our goal and this is where we need to involve the EU and not constantly have debates about distribution within Europe”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)