The European Commission “gave the green light” on Wednesday for the second finical aid package of €3 billion to Turkey for the hosting of Syrian refugees on its territory, as promised two years ago under the immigration deal between Brussels and Ankara.

The European Commission decided today to activate the second installment after the initial €3 billion was judged to have been successfully allocated to a few dozen programmes. “The European Commission is starting today to activate the second installment to facilitate refugees in Turkey,” the Commission said in a statement.

Migration, Home Affairs, and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos tweeted out “Following through on our commitment to support Syrian refugees in Turkey, we are mobilising additional funding for the Facility for Refugees which has so far given 500.000 children access to education”.

Dimitris Avramopoulos pointed out from Brussels that the scheduled Varna Summit would be important as it would offer the chance for clarifying many of the aspects regarding the cooperation between Turkey and the EU, as well as broader issues of the wider region.

“We are looking forward to a good summit meeting in Varna and we are all working for its success,” the Greek commissioner said.