(AP) European Union leaders greenlighted plans on Friday to give Turkey another 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) over the next few years to provide fresh assistance to Syrian refugees on its territory and to help the country boost border controls.
“It’s about additional funds of 3 billion euros, then afterwards also funds for Lebanon and Jordan,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters. She said the plan, drawn up by the EU’s executive branch, “will soon be formally endorsed.”
Turkey reacted coolly to the plan, saying it’s a way for Europeans “to ensure the EU’s own peace and security.”
Well over 1 million migrants entered the EU in 2015, many of them fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq. The arrivals through Turkey overwhelmed facilities in the Greek islands, and sparked one of the EU’s biggest-ever political crises.
