Amending budget 5/2020: continuation of the support to refugees and host communities in response to the Syria crisis in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey

The European Parliament adopted by 557 votes to 72, with 59 abstentions, a resolution approving the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2020 of the European Union for the financial year 2020 - Continuation of the support to refugees and host communities in response to the Syria crisis in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Parliament took note of the Draft amending budget No 5/2020 as submitted by the Commission, which is devoted to:

- providing EUR 100 million in commitment and payment appropriations as resilience support to refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon;

- providing EUR 485 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 68 million in payment appropriations to ensure the continuation of the urgent humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

As a reminder, the Commission proposed to provide EUR 100 million in new commitment and payment appropriations to fund projects in the areas of access to education, support to livelihoods and provision of health, sanitation, water and waste services and social protection to host communities and refugees (Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria) in Jordan and Lebanon.

It also proposed to provide EUR 485 million in commitment appropriations to fund the continuation of the two main Union humanitarian support actions in Turkey, the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) and the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education (CCTE) and to provide EUR 68 million in payment appropriations in order to cover pre-financing under the CCTE in 2020.

The ESSN provides monthly cash transfers to some 1.7 million refugees and is expected to run out of money in March 2021 at the latest. The Commission proposed to provide EUR 400 million to extend it until the end of 2021.

Many complex issues such as revision of targeting criteria and implementation of the strategic transition to development programming require timely consultation and coordination with Turkish authorities and Implementing Partners. The CCTE provides cash to refugee families whose children attend school instead of working. Given that the current contract ends in October 2020, the Commission proposed to provide EUR 85 million to allow the programme to run for an additional year and up to the end of December 2021.