DN: The European Union is the point of 1,415,000,000 euros for refugees after criticism from Erdogan

The European Union is the point of 1,415,000,000 euros for refugees after criticism from Erdogan

Erdogan made harsh criticism of the European Union falling back on financial contributions to help refugees | REUTERS/UMIT BEKTAS

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The delay of the financial contribution from the European Union prompted harsh criticism from the Turkish President Erdogan

The European Commission approved on Thursday a new installment of 1,415,000,000 euros for the Syrian refugees in Turkey, after the allegations of the Turkish President to Brussels about the failure of funding commitments.

This special measure, clarified Brussels, amounts to 2,155,000,000 euros the total European funds already granted to Turkey to support the refugees and host communities in Turkey, as part of the controversial deal the European Union (EU)-Turkey of 18March and entered into force two days later.

In March, the European Union has undertaken to grant 3,000,000,000 euros until 2017, and other 3,000,000,000 at a later date, in Exchange for the collaboration of Ankara in containing the arrival of undocumented migrants and refugees to communityspace, but so far only had disbursed 740,000,000 euros.

The agreement between the two parties, in force since March 20, also provides thatthe European Union will accept a Syrian refugee for each migrant or refugee who has arrived to the shores of Greece illegally, and that should be "returned" to Turkey.

However, the delay in granting the promised financial contribution prompted harsh criticism of the European Union on the part of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The new transfer should be channeled into education and health costs of refugees and provided for additional EUR 79,000,000 humanitarian projects of UN agencies, international organisations and NGOs.

The Turkey houses currently about 2,700,000 of the Syrian conflict refugees, with several parallel support project to be implemented and it will be reinforced with the future contributions.