Members of the European Parliament’s Budget Committee voted by overwhelming majority to cancel €70m in pre-accession funds for Turkey because of Ankara’s failure to make improvements in the fields of rule of law, democracy, human rights and press freedom.
Instead, they decided that the money will go to programmes dealing with migration.
Last November, during the budgetary negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council decided to place in reserve €70 million in pre-accession funds for Turkey (€70m in commitment appropriations and €35m in payment appropriations), under the condition that “Turkey makes measurable, sufficient improvements in the fields of rule of law, democracy, human rights and press freedom, according to the annual report of the Commission.”
However, the Commission’s annual report on Turkey, published on April 17, 2018, concluded that “Turkey has been significantly moving away from the European Union, in particular in the areas of the rule of law and fundamental rights and through the weakening of effective checks and balances in the political system”.
The condition set by the budgetary authority has therefore not been met, Members of the Committee on Budgets underlined.
They therefore decided to support the draft amending budget 5/2018, in which the Commission proposes transferring the €70 million earmarked for Turkey to reinforce the European Neighbourhood Instrument through commitment appropriations – to cover actions linked to the Central Mediterranean migratory route and to fulfill part of the EU pledge for Syria – and to boost Humanitarian Aid by €35 million through payments appropriations.
The draft report by Siegfried Muresan (EPP, RO) was adopted with 27 votes, 1 against and 4 abstentions.
His report expresses its concern at the continuing deterioration in fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey and Turkey’s further drifting away from European values.
And it reiterated that any decision related to IPA II funding in Turkey should not be made to the detriment of Union support to Turkish civil society, which should be further increased;
To take effect, the draft amending budget has to be approved by a plenary vote in Parliament, scheduled for October 3.