Brussels: EU could give Turkey more funds for refugees

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - Turkey and the European Union will discuss possible new funds to aid refugees in Turkey, but it is too early to give any numbers, said the head of the European Commission on Monday.

Speaking ahead of a meeting in Brussels with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ursula von der Leyen “acknowledged that Turkey is doing a great deal" by hosting nearly 3.7 million Syrian refugees, but criticized Turkish authorities saying that they would no longer try to stop asylum seekers from reaching Europe.

In opening the borders late last month, Turkish authorities reiterated their longstanding complaint that the EU has failed to uphold its pledges under the March 2016 deal.

Von der Leyen and the European Council President Charles Michel are expected to discuss renewing the 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal with Erdogan, and Turkey is expected to press for more funds, due to the rising number of refugees in the country as well as the situation in Syria’s embattled Idlib province, along Turkey’s southern border, where a new refugee wave is poised.

First the “acute situation” at the EU’s external borders needs to be solved by taking away pressure from the frontiers, said Von der Lyen.

She also said that the EU is committed to guaranteeing the right to asylum for those in need, but irregular migration across the Turkish-Greek border won’t be allowed.

Turkey has criticized what it calls Greek authorities’ brutality towards the asylum seekers at the border.

The EU will only authorize “humanitarian corridors” through which Syrian asylum seekers can apply for protection in the EU and be eventually resettled in the EU, Von der Leyen said.

EU countries are currently only open to take in unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers from the Greek islands. Von der Leyen is to visit Greece on Thursday to prepare for this.

In March 2016 the EU and Turkey concluded a deal to control irregular migration in which the EU pledged €6 billion ($6.9 billion) financial assistance for Syrian refugees in Turkey. Under the deal, the EU also promised to accelerate Turkey’s EU membership talks and updating the Customs Union.

But Turkish politicians have long criticized the EU for not fully implementing the 2016 agreement, including failing to send even half of the pledged €6 billion, and backing away from its political commitments.