EP Vice President: Turkey Needs More EU Support To Deal With Refugees

The EU should support Turkey more in its efforts to grapple with millions of refugees, European Parliament (EP) Vice President Sylvie Guillaume has said.
Guillaume and a group of EP members visited Turkey between Feb. 8 and 11 to observe the situation of refugees in the country. The delegation, who visited refugee camps in the border town of Nizip on Tuesday, held a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday.
Guillaume pointed out during the conference that the EU should do more to assist Turkey while it is grappling with almost 3 million refugees. She noted only 10 percent of refugees are staying in camps while the rest, half of whom consist of children, face a number of difficulties in the country that push them to set out on dangerous journeys to Europe.
Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, an EP member from the delegation, praised Turkey for providing good living condition to the refugees in camps. She also hailed Turkey for granting work permits to the refugees, based on which employers can hire up to 10 percent of their total labor force from Syrians. Bildt, however, noted Turkey needs to improve its processing of information on the refugees entering the country for security reasons.
Turkey and the EU reached a deal last November, with Turkey promising to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in financial aid to Turkey and renewed talks on joining the 28-nation bloc. The funds will be delivered to Turkey be the end of February, EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkır has said.
A delegation from the EP Committee on Budgets will visit Turkey this week to discuss the application of the EU funds with the Turkish authorities.
Speaking ahead of the visit to Turkey, Jean Arthuis, the chair of the EP budget committee, said: “We are going to Turkey to listen to the main stakeholders, to review how projects co-financed by the EU budget are being implemented and to evaluate their effectiveness. This crisis calls for an ambitions and coordinated response, in cooperation with UN agencies, the member states, NGOs and of course the Turkish authorities.”

SALİM AVCI | ANKARA [Cihan/Today's Zaman]