Immediate availability of funds to Greece for the refugee question
11.2.2016
Question for written answer E-001222-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (PPE)
It is true that the uncontrolled refugee flows to Europe make it particularly difficult to accurately assess the cost they generate for front line Member States, such as Greece, which in 2015 alone received some 850 000 refugees? At present, the funding that has been approved for Greece from Community funds for seven years (2014-2020) stands at EUR 475 million.
Given that:
- —according to a recent report by the IMF, and also by the Greek Ministry of State, the financial cost sustained by Greece in 2015 for the refugees reached EUR 300-350 million,
- —according to an official report by the Bank of Greece, in 2016 the country will need EUR 600 million to manage refugee flows and that
- —the increase, in general, in the funding for the refugee question from the EU budget by EUR 1.7 billion for the 2015-2016 period has already been approved,
could the Commission please state:
- —Does it anticipate that the EUR 475 million will become available faster considering the needs of Greece and the flow of refugees to the country, given that until now only EUR 33 million have been made available to Greece while its needs are much greater?
- —Is it looking at an increase of such amount for Greece, considering that, although it has been provided for seven years, it only covers one part of the financial needs for just the current year?