The European Parliament adopted by 588 votes to 87, with 14 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on draft amending budget No 5/2021 of the European Union for the financial year 2021 - Humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

Parliament approved the Council's position on draft amending budget No 5/2021, which aims to provide continued support to the most vulnerable of the refugees in Turkey as a consequence of the Syria crisis, representing the first component of the Commission’s proposals for the continuation of financing for Syrian refugees and host communities in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other parts of the region.

EUR 325 million are needed to extend the coverage of the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) flagship programme, which provides monthly cash transfers to over 1.8 million refugees, from March 2022 until the beginning of 2023.

The Commission proposed to cover this amount by using the remaining margin under the Heading 6 in 2021, and the balance to be funded from the Humanitarian Aid envelope in 2021 and 2022.

Concerned that support for refugees in Turkey was not factored in the negotiations of the current MFF nor the NDICI-Global Europe instrument, Parliament stressed that under current circumstances the Union budget cannot be the sole source of funding for the continued support to refugees.

Members called for a comprehensive agreement covering EU funding for continued support to refugees in Turkey and the region in 2021 and subsequent years to be concluded in the context of the conciliation on the EU's general budget for the year 2022.

The Council adopted its position on DAB No. 5 in the 2021 general budget, as set out in the technical annex .

As a reminder, the objective of the proposal is to partly finance the extension, from March 2022 until the beginning of 2023, of the Emergency Social Safety Net, a humanitarian programme providing multi-purpose cash assistance to refugees to cover their basic needs.

The monthly cash transfers reach monthly over 1.8 million refugees, the most vulnerable of the around 3.7 million refugees in Turkey as a consequence of the Syria crisis.

Under the MFF heading 6 (Neighbourhood and the World), EUR 149.6 million in commitment appropriations are requested to ensure the continuation of this humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey. No additional payment appropriations are requested for this purpose in 2021.

PURPOSE: to present Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No. 5 to the 2021 budget to provide humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

CONTENT: DAB No 5 for the year 2021 aims to provide continued support to the most vulnerable of the approximately 3.7 million refugees in Turkey as a consequence of the Syria crisis.

Funding

Apart from the use of the existing Humanitarian Aid envelope, there are currently no other redeployment possibilities under MFF Heading 6. In addition to the EUR 100.4 million to be committed under the Humanitarian Aid envelope this year, the Commission therefore proposes to mobilise the full unallocated margin under this heading of EUR 149.6 million to finance the urgent humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

The balance required – currently estimated at EUR 75 million - will be committed from the Humanitarian Aid budget line in 2022.

No additional payment appropriations are requested under the 2021 budget. However, the payment appropriations to cover the proposed reinforcement of commitment appropriations in 2021 will be needed in 2022 and 2023. The impact on the 2022 payments will be incorporated in the amending letter to the 2022 draft budget in October 2021.

Humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey

Turkey currently hosts the largest refugee population in the world – close to 4.1 million. Some 3.7 million of them are Syrians who fled the ongoing conflict that has been ravaging their country for over 10 years.

The European Union, in close cooperation with the Turkish authorities, has provided assistance to the most vulnerable populations on the basis of humanitarian needs:

- following the EU-Turkey Statement signed by EU Heads of State or Government and their Turkish counterpart on 18 March 2016, the Commission and Member States committed in two tranches EUR 6 billion in EU assistance to refugees in Turkey for 2016-2019, delivered through the Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The operational envelope of this funding has been committed and contracted in full;

- in 2020, EUR 485 million from the EU budget (from the margin under the expenditure heading of Heading 4 ‘Global Europe’ and the Contingency Margin) was allocated in the amending budget 5/2020 to be able to continue the two key humanitarian flagship programmes - the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) and the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education (CCTE).

This DAB represents the first component of the Commission’s formal proposals for the continuation of financing for Syrian refugees and host communities in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other parts of the region within the context of the EU’s overall migration policy.