Despite recent improvements, the EU’s multi-billion euro funding for refugees in Turkey could have “achieved greater value for money and shown more impact”, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors on Wednesday 24 April.
Although the €6 billion Facility for Refugees in Turkey has addressed the needs of refugees and their Turkish host communities, “the funded projects are behind schedule, and it is uncertain whether they will be sustained once EU support runs out”.
Approved in 2016 to convince Turkey to take back Syrian asylum seekers arriving in the EU, the facility ended this year, although projects will continue to be funded in 2025.
The first tranche amounted to €3 billion, of which €1 billion was mobilised from the EU budget and €2 billion in the form of bilateral contributions from Member States. The second tranche also amounted to €3 billion, of which €2 billion came from the EU budget and €1 billion from the Member States. To date, €5 billion has been disbursed and the EU has approved a further €3 billion in aid under various budgetary instruments.
Turkey currently hosts over 4 million registered refugees, including over 3.2 million of Syrian origin. Fewer than 5% of them live in camps.
The Commission managed the aid against a backdrop of economic recession in Turkey and deteriorating relations with the country, particularly due to the decline in the rule of law and fundamental rights.
“In a challenging political context, the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey provided relevant support for refugees and host communities”, said Bettina Jakobsen, who led the audit.
“But there could be more value for money and more impact, and it is far from certain what will happen with the projects in Turkey after EU aid runs dry”.
On the whole, EU aid has enabled funds to be allocated quickly and significant investment to be mobilised in order to alleviate the pressure on health, education and municipal infrastructures caused by the large influx of refugees into the country, as well as to prevent the emergence of tensions on the labour market.
However, projects have suffered delays due to the pandemic, inflation and earthquakes.
Training and business assistance for refugees have generally been delivered. “However, monitoring was insufficient. For example, there was no follow-up regarding the refugees’ subsequent employment or business status”.
New schools for refugees have been built, but the auditors were unable to obtain sufficient data from the Turkish ministry to assess their impact on beneficiaries.
“The Turkish Ministry of National Education did not provide us with data on the number of Syrian children and children from host communities per school. It also did not provide us with access to the list of schools included under the ‘Promoting Integration of Syrian Children into the Turkish Education System’ (PICTES) project, nor to data on the refugees’ pass rate”, says the ECA.
“This represents a significant limitation for our audit, as it means we cannot conclude on the impact of education projects”.
Furthermore, the project supported is not sufficiently extensive to meet the needs of all beneficiaries. “There are an insufficient number of teachers and schools in Turkey to integrate 1 million refugee children into the Turkish education system. Only 65% of Syrian pupils in need of formal education were in school as of January 2023”.
The EU executive has also worked to improve the operating environment for international NGOs, but the lack of political will on the part of national authorities limits the usefulness of its efforts.
“The issue of the functioning of NGOs has been addressed several times in steering committee meetings, Council meetings and high-level political dialogues, as well as during visits by the Commission to Turkey. However, this has not led to a positive outcome”.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/bxe (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)