RIGA (Sputnik) — Turkey is blackmailing the European Union by asking for funding to address the refugee crisis, Member of the European Parliament Iveta Grigule said Wednesday.
"Turkey is engaged in blackmail: give us money and we will help refugees, give us money, and we will detain them. The EU is cornered. If it refuses to give money, Turkey will let all refugees in here," Grigule told the Baltkom radio in an interview.
Grigule also said the European Union's future did not seem to be "bright," as the bloc was initially created as a financial pyramid.
The European Commission set up a 3-billion-euro (almost $3.8 billion) fund for Turkey in November, of which some 500 million euros have been transferred to Ankara to help it bolster border security and accommodate some 2.2 million Syrian refugees. The rest is still to be donated to the fund by EU member-states.
