FX.co ★ Turkey can rely on financial aid from EU

On November 29, 2015 EU heads of state governments held a meeting with Turkey. The key issue on the agenda was managing the migration crisis, which is festering nowadays as a result of political clashes and uncertainty of other regions of the world.

“Providing this level of care to all the refugees - 2 million more Syrian refugees are currently in Turkey- indeed is akin to a Herculean task,” President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz stated.

“Therefore, the European Parliament wants to support Syrian refugees and persons under temporary protection by funding access to education, health care, public services and the labour market, and this is the objective of the 3 billion Euro Refugee Facility for Turkey for the next two years,” Martin Schulz spoke at the summit between the EU and Turkey in Brussels.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel also confirmed that all participants of the high-level talks approved of the fund worth 3 billion euros. It should be devoted to humanitarian relief for Syrian refugees.

In the course of the talks, the parties also discussed the visa liberalization issue between Turkey and the EU. European Commission President Jean-Claude visa-free entrance to the EU for Turkish nationals could become a reality in Autumn 2016 on condition that Ankara fulfils all requirements. In particular, Turkey has committed to implementing immediately the elements agreed on in the Action Plan, notably immediate action to stem the flow of irregular migrants to the EU.