Facility for Refugees in Turkey: Adaptation to two Special Measures providing funding to support refugees and migrants in Turkey

Today, the European Commission adjusted priorities under two special measures which provide support to refugees and migrants in Turkey. A modification to the €1.415 billion Special Measure which sees the support of refugees who fled from the war in Syria and to assist their host communities, increased to €1.425 billion. The adaptation of the Special Measure will address needs identified, by providing additional funding for a new hospital in Hatay by the Agence française de développement (AFD), and for further pre-fabricated schools to be opened in the coming school year.

The Special Measure was originally adopted in July 2016, and provides for three strands of funding to address urgent needs of refugees and host communities in Turkey in the priority areas of education, health, municipal infrastructure and socio-economic support. The first strand provides for direct grants with the Turkish ministries for education and health reaching respectively, half a million and over two million people. The second strand – implemented by International Financial Institutions – provides support for education and health-related infrastructure. It also provides for funding for municipal infrastructure in host communities and socio-economic support for Syrian refugees in Turkey. The third strand of the Measure is implemented through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, allowing it to continue funding bottom-up assistance to refugees and host communities.

In addition to this, the European Commission also adopted a modification to the €60 million Special Measure with Directorate General for Migration Management (DGMM), initially adopted in April 2016. The adaptations to the Special Measure widen the scope of support given to the Turkish authorities in order to strengthen their capacity to manage, receive and host migrants (regular and irregular), and migrants returned to Turkey from EU Member State territory in particular.

With the steady implementation under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, the Commission is delivering on the commitment from the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March and has since then already mobilised €2.9 billion out of the foreseen €3 billion for 2016-2017.

Background

The EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey was set up in 2015 in response to the European Council's call for significant additional funding to support refugees in Turkey. It has a budget of €3 billion for 2016-2017. This is made up of €1 billion from the EU budget, and €2 billion from the EU Member States. All Member States have sent in their contribution certificates for the €2 billion they pledged.

So far, 48 projects have been contracted for more than €1.6 billion, out of which €811 million has been disbursed. The total allocated for implementation under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey on humanitarian and non-humanitarian actions now stands at €2.9 billion.

The Facility provides a joint coordination mechanism, designed to ensure that the needs of refugees and host communities are addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. The support seeks to improve conditions for refugees in Turkey as part of the EU's comprehensive approach to addressing the refugee crisis inside and outside the EU. The Sixth Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement was published on 13 June 2017.

For More Information

EU-Turkey Cooperation: A €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey

FACTSHEET: The EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey

FACTSHEET: Turkey: Refugee crisis

Sixth Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement

Implementing the EU-Turkey Statement – Questions and Answers

First Annual Report for the Facility for Refugees in Turkey

Facility for Refugees in Turkey – Commission Reports on Progress in Seventh Steering Committee