EU approves €3 billion payment to Turkey
Agreement ends delay caused by Matteo Renzi's budget concerns.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi | EPA/Michael Kappeler
February 3, 2016 7:26 pm CET
EU countries gave final approval Wednesday to a €3 billion payment to Turkey in exchange for its cooperation in stemming the flow of migrants — money that had been held up by objections from Italy.
"Europe is following up on its decision to make €3 billion available for the Turkey Refugee Facility and we will continue to work hard with our Turkish partners to turn this into concrete results," said Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, current holder of the EU's Council presidency.
The payment to Turkey includes €1 billion from the European Commission and €2 billion from EU countries, according to diplomats. The Commission's share was increased from €500 million after some countries said it should pay more.
The agreement comes a few days after a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at which the issue of the €3 billion payment was discussed.
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In exchange for releasing its €231 million share of the payment, Rome wanted assurances that money Italy spends rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean would not be counted against it in calculating how its 2016 budget measures up to EU deficit rules. The discount would be worth about €3.3 billion — but the Commission does not want to decide on the request until spring.
Renzi is concerned that if the discount is rejected, it would pave the way for the Commission to put Italian public finances under further scrutiny at a key moment: General elections are scheduled for 2018 and the budget for 2017 is deemed by Renzi as strategic to win them; restrictions on his balance sheets could limit his scope for popular measures such as tax cuts.
For now Renzi has a commitment from the Commission that only the money spent for Turkey, the €231 million, will not be included in the deficit — a guarantee that came Monday in a letter from Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The €3 billion in EU money is part of a deal reached in October with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees crossing into Greece on their way to northern Europe. Among other things, the money is supposed to help the 2.5 million Syrian refugees who live in the country, to provide them with access to the labor market and education.
EU diplomats say that so far little has been done on the Turkish side, and unlocking the money is seen as vital to pushing Ankara to do its part. But Turkey rejects criticism that it has not done enough to stop the refugees.
"We are already making progress due to measures taken last month such as the reintroduction of visas to Syrians," said a Turkish diplomat. "This has already helped in dropping the number of Syrians coming, from 40,000 prior to the reintroduction to 1,000 after."
The diplomat also said that Turkey had passed legislation to boost the employment of Syrians, and had put in place "stringent security measures" along its coast. The diplomat added that 250,000 Syrian children already attend school in Turkey.
"We hope to increase that to 450,000 but the total youth at school age is 700,000," he said.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is expected to take part in a mini-summit of European countries willing to join a voluntary resettlement for Syrians. The meeting of so-called "like-minded" countries led by Germany and Austria will take place in Brussels before the European Council later this month.
The EU's green light for the €3 billion is also important for Merkel, who faces local elections next month in some key German states and who has staked a lot of political effort in reaching a deal with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees.
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