Turkey Considers EU Aid Proposal Acceptable Only in Short-Term

Ankara considers the 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) offered by the European Union to enable Turkey to take in more refugees to be sufficient only initially, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — The prime minister added that the money for receiving refugees must be allocated from a specially established fund rather than from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funding mechanism established to assist Turkey to ready itself for EU accession.

"Now we are talking about 3 billion euros. We are considering this amount for the first stage only. We do not want to fix it, as our needs may increase, and they should be evaluated annually," Davutoglu said in an interview with the local Ahaber broadcaster.

On Thursday, the European Union and Turkey agreed on an action plan to provide Ankara with up to 3 billion euros in aid, ease EU visa restrictions on Turkish citizens and expedite Turkey's accession to the bloc in exchange for cooperation on stemming the massive refugee influx to Europe.

The Turkey-EU deal was forged by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said the action plan would provide guarantees that refugees currently in Turkey stay there. The deal will also ensure that no refugees use Turkey as transit route to EU member states.