The money for the scheme, some €348 million, is not new, but part of the €3 billion package on returning migrants to Turkey agreed at the Valletta summit last October.
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On Friday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the bloc’s neighbourhood policy commissioner, Johannes Hahn, will visit Ankara. The document is supposed to be rolled out next summer, and will contain an extensive amount of data.
Almost four years ago, the WFP and the Red Crescent launched an experimental project in which thousands of refugees began receiving cards charged with aid credits rather than boxes of basic supplies.
Internally displaced children, covered with mud, wait with their families as they are stuck in the town of Khirbet Al-Joz, in Latakia countryside, waiting to get permission to cross into Turkey near the Syrian-Turkish border, Syria, February 7, 2016.
As the EU Commission funds its largest humanitarian aid programme, another €348 million will reach Turkey to address the everyday needs of refugees, while preserving their dignity.
In any case, the money is aimed to be spent in local markets via this “innovative system that can deliver what people need, where it is needed most, and in the most effective way possible”, stressed EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides. When asked what terms and conditions would be imposed on what refugees could actually buy with the cards, the Commissioner could not provide specifics. The system is already running in Jordan and Lebanon, assisting the refugee population there.
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On March 18, 2016, the state and government leaders of the European Union and Turkey signed a joint declaration stating that the European Union undertakes the obligation to help with the support of refugees in Turkey by providing Euro 6 B. On its part, Turkey is to stop illegal immigration towards Europe. Besides financial aid, the joint declaration undertakes to accelerate the accession negotiations between Turkey and the European Union, and to implement a visa-free regime should Turkey fulfill all necessary criteria for this.
