European lawmakers vote to cut €70m in aid to Turkey

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) voted Tuesday to cut 70 million euros (80.8 million U.S. dollars) in pre-accession funds earmarked for Turkey, claiming that Ankara had made no improvement in respect to EU values.

The EU representatives backed redirecting the funds to aid programs related to migration.

Meeting in Strasbourg for a plenary session, MEPs backed the resolution by 544 votes to 28 against, with 74 abstentions, arguing that conditions for the rule of law in Turkey had not improved in the past year.

In November 2017, the European Parliament and European Council had agreed during budgetary negotiations to place 70 million euros in pre-accession funds in reserve for Turkey, but under the condition "Turkey makes measurable, sufficient improvements" in regards to core European values.

An April 2018 European Commission report, however, concluded that "Turkey has been significantly moving away from the European Union", particularly in terms of the rule of law.

In their resolution, the MEPs backed a draft budget amendment proposed by the European Commission in July 2018 in order to transfer the 70 million euros earmarked for Turkey in order to reinforce the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI).

The ENI governs EU relations with 16 of the bloc's closest Eastern and Southern neighbors, and is designed to contribute to stabilization of the region.

The transferred funds would particularly target programs within the framework designed to cover actions linked to the Central Mediterranean migratory route and to fulfill part of the EU pledge for Syria, as well as to boost Humanitarian Aid by 35 million euros.