The European Union (EU) sent billions of euros to Turkey to prevent immigrants and refugees from crossing the border. According to Euronews, the EU cannot obtain information on how the money is spent. EU auditors who wanted to learn the required data from the Ministry of National Education report that the ministry said, “We do not have the necessary data.”
Within the scope of the agreement signed by Turkey with the European Union (EU) regarding refugees from Syria, the country receives billions of euros from the EU. The EU is trying to prevent refugees and immigrants from coming to its borders by paying billions of euros to Turkey.
Allegedly, EU auditors state that they cannot obtain any information about whether some of the euros paid to Turkey are used for their intended purpose. Auditors think that the euros paid to Turkey have no effect.
Ministry of National Education did not inform EU auditors
Turkey signed a migration agreement with the EU in 2016 to provide some of the country’s more than 4 million registered refugees with cash payment cards for spending, improve education and health, help people better integrate into society and build facilities that people fleeing the war in Syria may need. . Within the scope of this agreement, billions of euros were received from the EU.
Last year, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) asked questions to the Ministry of National Education (MEB) within the scope of its study on whether the money was used for its intended purpose. It is stated that the Ministry of National Education did not provide information to the Court of Accounts auditors, who were hoping to obtain information that would allow them to evaluate the effects of EU projects on immigrants and refugees.
ECA member Bettine Jakobsen told reporters that it was not possible for them to reach conclusions about measuring the “impact or sustainability” of EU projects without the data they obtained from Turkey.
Authorities in Turkey claim they “don’t have the data”
According to the statements of the European Commission, 530 million euros have been allocated to support quality inclusive education of refugees in Turkey. It is stated that this allowance is allocated to cover services such as teacher salaries, educational equipment, consultancy and guidance services.
Auditors who want to examine how this funding is spent hope to obtain data such as the number of refugee students attending schools, whether the children are integrated into the system, and exam passing rates.
When asked the reason for the problem they had in accessing this data, an EU auditor said, “The authorities simply claimed that they did not have the data.”
According to the regulations, Turkey must have this data.
It is stated that many auditors and officials have made both individual and joint requests to the competent authorities in Turkey. However, none of them could receive data from Turkey.
