Croatia's contribution to the aid for Turkey for providing for Syrian refugees will not be big and Croatia will get back from the European Commission a good part of what it has invested in caring for migrants, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in Brussels on Sunday.
"We'll all have to give something. I can't tell you how much exactly at this moment, although less than ten million euros is being mentioned. In the end, we get more from the EU than we pay into (its budget), and we will get from the European Commission quite a return on our investment," Milanovic said, arriving for a summit of EU and Turkey leaders.
They are expected to define an action plan agreed in principle, aimed at stopping the migrant flow from Turkey to Europe, which has brought into question the Schengen Area. Turkey has officially received 2.2 million Syrian refugees. The action plan envisages EUR 3 billion in aid for Turkey, of which 500 million would come from the European budget and 2.5 billion from EU member states.
The European Commission is proposing that the member states contribute according to their contribution to the European budget, based on gross national income, which means that Croatia would pay a little under EUR 7.4 million. Germany would pay the most, EUR 534 million.
Milanovic said exactly how much Croatia would pay was a minor issue now and that the question was how much it could talk about this matter with a caretaker government.
He also voiced confidence that Slovenia would remove the fence from its border with Croatia. "It will be removed," he told reporters. Asked when, he said, "We are sending protest notes. I'll discuss this now with Prime Minister Miro Cerar."
Asked why Slovenia was ignoring the protest notes over the fence put up to keep out refugees, he said it was "probably trying to profit something."
Photo and text: Hina
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