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EU approves Turkey refugee fund after Italy row solved

04 February 2016 01:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The EU said Wednesday it had agreed on how to finance a three billion euro ($3.3 billion) deal to aid Syrian refugees in Turkey, in exchange for Ankara's help stemming the flow of migrants, after resolving a dispute with Italy, APA reports quoting AFP.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had stalled on signing off on the deal because of questions about how the accord would work, but EU sources told AFP that Rome had given its approval on Wednesday.

Under the deal the European Commission, the EU executive, will contribute one billion euros to Turkey while the bloc's 28 member states will contribute two billion, the commission announced.

Germany is the country making the biggest contribution to the fund with 427 million euros, followed by Britain with 327 million and France with 309 million, EU sources said.

"I welcome the agreement by the Member States on the details of the refugee facility for Turkey," European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in a statement.

"The money we are putting on the table will directly benefit Syrian refugees in Turkey, helping to improve their access to education and healthcare in particular.

"I also welcome the measures already taken by the Turkish authorities to give Syrian refugees access to the labour market and to reduce the flows."

Turkey -- the main launching point for the one million refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe last year -- has promised to cut the flow of people as part of the deal agreed with the EU at a summit in November.