Facility for Refugees in Turkey: Commission proposes additional €1.4 billion in support

Met dank overgenomen van Europese Commissie (EC) i, gepubliceerd op donderdag 30 juni 2016.

The proposed Special Measure, presented by the Commission today at the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Facility, will cover measures in the areas of education, health, municipal and social infrastructure and socio-economic support. The Commission also presented the recently published Humanitarian Implementation Plan for Turkey which sets out the humanitarian strategy under the Facility, with total funding of over €500 million, including contributions from Member States. This is the biggest Humanitarian Implementation Plan ever published by the Commission.

Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn i, said: "The Commission is committed to helping refugees and host communities in Turkey as quickly, efficiently and effectively as it can, in close cooperation with the Turkish authorities. The mobilisation of funding under the Facility is the most effective way to provide education and health care to refugees and support their host communities. The progress achieved to date shows that the European Union and Turkey are living up to their commitment to cooperate closely to improve the conditions for refugees in Turkey.”

Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides i, said: "The publication of the 2016 Humanitarian Implementation Plan for Turkey marks another step in the implementation of the EU humanitarian assistance under the Facility for a total amount of over €500 million. This unprecedented budget mirrors the humanitarian challenges in Turkey, which hosts the world's largest refugee population; well over 3 million refugees. It reflects the ambition of the European Commission to address this difficult situation in a dignified, effective, cost-efficient and accountable manner, whilst remaining true to the humanitarian principles which guide our actions."

The Steering Committee, gathering representatives from EU Member States and Turkey, under the chairmanship of the European Commission, today welcomed the progress achieved on the disbursement of support to refugees, which has been fast-tracked during the past months. Out of the total €3 billion, €740 million has so far been allocated in total, for both humanitarian and non-humanitarian assistance. Of this €740 million, €150 million has been contracted, of which €105 million has so far been disbursed.

The Steering Committee also discussed in detail an ambitious pipeline of projects to be funded under the Facility for Refugees in support of education, health, municipal and social infrastructure, and socio-economic support for refugees and host communities in Turkey. Subject to EU Member States' approval, this Special Measure will be implemented in cooperation with the relevant Turkish authorities, International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian crisis.

The Commission presented to the Steering Committee the humanitarian strategy under the Facility which aims at responding to the basic needs of up to 1 million refugees through the implementation of the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) - an electronic card which will allow the most vulnerable refugees to receive monthly transfers to meet their needs in terms of, for example, food and shelter.

Hand-in-hand with this flagship initiative, the European Commission also presented its robust protection framework as well as its strategy regarding health and non-formal education activities which will be carried out in complementarity of longer-term initiatives. A buffer of funding will also be foreseen in order to swiftly respond to urgent and unexpected humanitarian needs. The activities under the Humanitarian Implementation Plan will be rolled out from the end of July 2016.

As a result, the European Commission is on track to reach the target of committing more than €2 billion of the €3 billion Facility envelope for 2016-2017 before the end of the summer 2016.

Background

The Facility for Refugees in Turkey is the answer to the European Council's call for significant additional funding to support refugees in Turkey. The Facility provides a joint coordination mechanism for actions financed by the EU budget and national contributions made by the Member States, designed to ensure that the needs of refugees and host communities are addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.

Funding under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey supports refugees in the country - it is funding for refugees and not funding for Turkey. The support seeks to improve conditions for refugees in Turkey as part of the EU's comprehensive approach to addressing the refugee crisis inside and outside the EU.

The Facility has a budget of €3 billion for 2016-2017. This is made up of €1 billion from the EU budget, and €2 billion from the EU Member States. All Member States have sent in their contribution certificates for the €2 billion they pledged.

For more information:

Details on projects funded under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/news_corner/migration/index_en.htm

Details on the 2016 Humanitarian Implementation Plan for Turkey can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/sites/echo-site/files/hip_turkey_2016.pdf

EU-Turkey Cooperation: A €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6162_en.htm

EU announces first projects under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey: €95 million to be provided for immediate educational and humanitarian assistance: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-584_en.htm

Facility for Refugees in Turkey: Commission delivers an additional €110 million under the implementation of EU-Turkey agreement: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1464_fr.htm

Facility for Refugees in Turkey - Steering Committee accelerates and scales up implementation: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1728_en.htm

Implementing the EU-Turkey Agreement - Questions and Answers http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-1221_fr.htm

FACTSHEET: The Facility for Refugees in Turkey: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/background-information/docs/20160420/factsheet_financing_of_the_facility_for_refugees_in_turkey_en.pdf

IP/16/2370

Press contacts:

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