F.P. Report
BRUSSELS: EU ambassadors on Wednesday approved €149.6 million of funding from the EU budget to support the most vulnerable of the approximately 3.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. This amount would finance the extension of one of the humanitarian programmes that support the livelihood of the refugees.
The purpose of the budget amendment is to continue providing support to refugees and host communities in Turkey, which is currently the country with the largest refugee population in the world. It would allow the EU to carry on with a programme providing multi-purpose cash assistance to refugees – the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN).
The ESSN is the biggest humanitarian programme in the EU’s history. It provides 1.8 million refugees in Turkey with monthly cash transfers to cover essential needs like rent, transport, bills, food and medicine.
The Council has decided to finance the extension of this humanitarian support programme by committing the funds from the remaining margin for 2021 under the heading ‘Neighbourhood and the world’ in the EU’s multiannual financial framework.
This draft amending budget for 2021 now awaits the approval of the European Parliament.
