site.btaEC President Juncker Informs PM Borissov about Funds Allocated for Refugees in Turkey

EC President Juncker Informs PM Borissov about Funds Allocated for Refugees in Turkey

Sofia, October 15 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has received a letter on Friday from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, informing him about the results of the Commission's work in providing humanitarian aid for refugees in Turkey, Cabinet's press service reported.

These activities are funded by the Refugee Facility for Turkey, which has a budget of three billion euro, made up of one billion euro from the EU budget and two billion euro from the budgets of Member States.

Work under the Facility has quickly reached cruising speed. So far some 2.2 billion euro have been allocated under the Facility, with 1.2 billion already provided under specific contracts, the letter says.

The Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN ) was introduced at the end of September. It is a single card social assistance scheme that will allow up to one million of the most vulnerable refugees meet their most pressing basic needs. With an initial grant of 348 million euro from the EU and in collaboration with Turkish the Turkish Red Crescent and Turkish authorities, there will be an electronic transfer of a monthly cash grant to beneficiaries allowing them to purchase the most basic needs in terms of food, shelter, as well as to send their children to school.

When the ESSN was created, the Commission's main concerns were its efficiency and viability. At least 85 per cent of funds for this scheme will be directly paid out to the refugees, while the rest will be used to build the system, regulate the selection of eligible recipients and monitor the process, Juncker notes.

The EC President also informed Borissov that two agreements were signed with the Turkish Government on September 27 in the fields of health care and education. The grants provided under them, valued at 600 million euro, create the possibility for half a million Syrian children to regularly attend school and around two million people to have access to primary health care.

The EC will continue further developing projects in the upcoming months under the Facility. As of right now, one can objectively say that the Facility is working and helping the refugees. This allows the EU to implement one of the key elements included in the EU-Turkey Agreement from this March, Juncker notes in his letter.