© AP Photo/ Halit Onur Sandal
The member states of the EU will inject two-thirds of the aid package the union has promised to help resolve the migration gridlock in Turkey. The countries' contributions will be proportionate to their national GDPs, RIA Novosti quoted Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders as saying.
Koenders, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, made the remarks during a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
"The [EU] member states intend to allocate two thirds of the requested amount for financing the mechanism. Contributions will be calculated according to national GDP," he said.
His statement came as Italy continues to block the European Commission's move to allocate three billion euros in EU money to curb the influx of refugees into EU countries.
While Turkey asks for more $, Merkel wants Turkey to step up to its "key role" in stemming the flow of migrants pic.twitter.com/TLcL5MERIW— Jenna Abrams (@Jenn_Abrams) January 24, 2016
On November 29, 2015, the European Union and Turkey approved a joint plan under which EU member states will give about three billion euros to Ankara and fast track negotiations for its accession to the 28-nation bloc.
Earlier, the European Commission endorsed the creation of a special 3-billion-euro fund for refugees in Turkey. The EC itself had planned to allocate 500 million to the fund, while the EU countries were to cover the remaining 2.5 billion euros.
The German newspaper Die Welt reported late last week that Ankara has allegedly demanded an additional two billion euros for the purpose, but that Brussels has responded by making it plain that it is only ready to provide Ankara with the sum that had been agreed upon before.
Turkey remains a key transit route for refugees. Right now, more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees and 300,000 Iraqi migrants are living temporarily in Turkey; many of them seek to travel onwards to Europe. According to Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, Turkey plays a key role in solving the migration crisis in Europe.
Turkey wars on its population of Kurds without which their deprivation of their own nation would leave Turkey with half of its current land, ignores the subsequent ethnic genocide of which it seems to have a long history, says it cannot accept war refugees unless it has more money, and obviously intends as in every other migrant camp established by the UN, to create a subservient population of outsiders to elevate the established Turkish citizenry. The creation of a de-facto caste system in other words.
I wonder if they intend to settle these people in the eastern areas of Turkey as soon as they have eliminated the native Kurds?