“I especially thank Italy”, had said this morning to the European Parliament the president of the EU commission Jean Claude Juncker, effectively anticipating the agreement on funding for Turkey for the refugee emergency, which was later reached during the European Council in the afternoon.
Indeed, Brussels announced the agreement reached by the 28 member states of the Union on the financing of 3 billion euros in aid to Turkey: implicitly, the agreement highlights the no opposition from Italy on how to raise funds for the intervention and in particular on the fact that the figure comes from the calculation of the deficit under the Stability and Growth Pact. Methods that Italy would also like to extend to the entire amount of costs incurred by Rome since the beginning of the crisis in Libya.
“This support – reads the EU statement – mainly aims to intervene on the more immediate needs for food, health services and education“. In the morning from Senegal, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had underlined the importance of reaching an agreement: “Italy will make every effort to save the peoples at sea. We are honored to be human and the new humanism means no longer allowing people to die at sea".
After cge Italy dropped its reserve, tAll 28 EU countries signed the proposal during a summit in Brussels. Brussels and Berlin expect Turkey's funding to help reduce the number of arrivals to Europe after more than a million migrants reached the continent last year.
The EU will put 1 billion euros on the plate, double what was initially planned. The rest will be provided by the 28 governments: Germany will be the main contributor in 2016 with 427,5 million, followed by Great Britain (327,6 million), France (309,2), Italy and Spain (152,8), according to the figures provided by the Commission.
