EU plans to dedicate over €5 billion to support Syrian refugees: top official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The European Commission plans to dedicate over €5 billion to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to provide socio-economic support for the millions of Syrian refugees they host, the commission president said on Friday. 

“We have already made clear that we will continue supporting Turkey and other partners in the region like Jordan or Lebanon, which host millions of Syrian refugees. Therefore, we always show that we have supported in the past and we plan to support in the future,” said Ursula von der Leyen during a press conference in Brussels.

“We plan to allocate an additional €3 billion [$3.58 billion] to support refugees in Turkey until 2024. This money will come entirely from the EU budget and it will focus more on the socio-economic support to refugees,” she added. 

The EU and Turkey reached a deal in March 2016 in which Ankara agreed to close the border to refugees trying to reach Europe, in exchange for funds.

Turkey was promised €6 billion as part of the agreement. The latest proposal states that the EU has so far given €4.1 billion to Turkey.

There are nearly four million Syrian refugees in Turkey, fleeing a civil war at home since 2011. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed in late 2019 that his government had spent $40 billion on Syrian refugees “to offer them education, health care and housing.”

The commission will provide €2.2 billion for Syrian refugees in Syria and Lebanon, von der Leyen added.

There are an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon and 1.3 million in Jordan.