Pre-accession funding for Turkey

8.12.2015

Question for written answer E-015548-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Constance Le Grip (PPE)

The EU-Turkey extraordinary summit on 29 November 2015 resulted in a commitment by the EU to give Turkey EUR 3 billion in aid — whether as a one-off payment or as a renewable grant was not made clear. It was also decided at the summit that, in order to ‘re-energise’ the negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the EU, a new negotiation chapter, No 17 on economic and monetary policy, would be opened on 14 December 2014.

It was further agreed that preparatory work for the opening of Chapters 15, 23, 24, 26 and 31 would start at the beginning of 2016. At the same time, the levels of EU pre-accession funding for Turkey and arrangements for paying out the sums in question remain somewhat unclear and are subject to relatively little monitoring. In the period 2007-2013, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) accounted for EUR 4.9 billion — four times more than in the previous funding period.

Can the Commission state how much IPA funding in total is earmarked for Turkey in the period 2014-2020, and what arrangements the EU institutions have made, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors, for proper evaluation and monitoring to ensure that the funding is put to the best possible use?