EU readies to pay Turkey to boost coast guard

A senior European Union official says the bloc is ready to pay Turkey tens of millions of euros to bolster its coast guard, as more migrants leave the country and try to enter Europe via the Greek islands.

European Commission deputy director-general for EU enlargement Maciej Popowski said Wednesday that the EU’s executive arm has “prepared a set of measures amounting to some 50 million euros ($55 million).”

Popowski said that some of the money is meant “to improve the capacities of the Turkish coastguard to perform search and rescue operations.”

The rest would be used to improve conditions in migrant detention centers and to help those people allowed to stay to integrate into Turkish society.

The money would be drawn from a fund meant to prepare Turkey to join the EU.