EU Auditors to examine facility for #Refugees in #Turkey

The European Court of Auditors is conducting an audit of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The facility was established on 1 January 2016 following a call from the European Council for significant additional funding to support refugees in Turkey. It has a budget of €3 billion, made up of €1bn from the EU budget and €2bn from the member states. The auditors will examine whether the Facility is providing effective support. They have also published a Background Paper on the Facility as a source of information for those interested in the subject.

The Facility supports both humanitarian and non-humanitarian activities. Its aim is the swift, effective and coordinated mobilisation of EU assistance for refugees in Turkey and it is one of the Union’s major tools for addressing the refugee crisis. The auditors will look at the set-up and functioning of the Facility as a whole. They will focus on its management - coordination, administrative arrangements, functioning and monitoring - and the results achieved under the humanitarian assistance provided.

“As a consequence of increased migration, mainly due to the Syrian conflict, Turkey has become the country hosting the largest refugee population in the world - more than 3.8 million people”, said Bettina Jakobsen, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the audit. “So it is most important to examine whether EU financial support in this area is effective.”

The audit report is expected to be published in late 2018.

Turkey has been linked to the EU by an Association Agreement since 1963. The European Council granted the status of candidate country to Turkey in December 1999 and accession negotiations were opened in October 2005.

“Humanitarian assistance” provides immediate support to the most vulnerable refugees, particularly those living outside the camps. “Non-humanitarian assistance” relates to longer-term development aid with a focus on education, health, migration management and socio-economic support to refugees and the host population in Turkey.

Share this article: