The Court of Auditors criticizes the effectiveness of EU aid to refugees in Turkey

The Court of Auditors criticizes the effectiveness of EU aid to refugees in Turkey

BRSSEL: According to the European Court of Auditors, billions of EU aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey could be spent much more efficiently.

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According to a test report released Tuesday, about half of the humanitarian projects funded with this money have not yet achieved the expected results. The use of funds can be optimized. According to the Court of Auditors, among the projects that have not yet produced the desired effects are those aimed at providing better protection and education to refugees. One of the health sectors is one of them.

Turkey's support of 6 billion euros has been approved under the refugee pact signed in March 2016. It stipulates that the EU can return all migrants who come illegally via Turkey. in the Greek islands. In return, EU countries relieve Turkey of vulnerable Syrian refugees and provide badistance to refugees living in Turkey. To date, the country has hosted nearly 3.6 million Syrian refugees – more than any other country in the world.

The specific criticisms of the Court concern the inefficiency of the administrative structures and the high ancillary costs incurred by the external partners for the implementation of large-scale cash grant projects. He also criticized the failure to take into account the necessary expansion of municipal water management and waste disposal, as well as the integration of refugees. in the labor market.

"The Court found that priorities in terms of local infrastructure and socio-economic support had not been sufficiently taken into account," the report says. This was mainly due to the fact that the European Commission responsible for aid and the Turkish authorities had not agreed on how to deal with them.

In its communiqué to the Court of Auditors, the Commission notes that "the two priorities were taken into account in the planning, but that no action could be taken in the field of municipal infrastructures because the projects submitted by Turkey for funding were not up to date ".

Of the six billion euros pledged to Turkey, three billion have already been used. They came from one third of the EU budget and two thirds of the national budgets of the EU countries. The second tranche must be funded inversely.

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