A joint meeting of the committees on Civil Liberties (LIBE), Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Development (DEVE) took place to discuss the EU-Turkey facility and the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Representatives of the European Commission briefed MEPs on the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey, the mechanism set up in 2015 to help Turkish authorities assisting refugees and which counted on a budget of €6 billion. Maciej Popowski, Deputy Director General of DG NEAR, told MEPs that “in the last couple of months, we saw a significant increase in irregular migration to the EU from Turkey”. He also added that the financial support granted to Turkey can only be used inside Turkish territory and that it should not be used under any circumstance to support resettlement or deportations in any country. The MEPs also held a debate with Michalis Chrisochoidis, Greek Minister for Citizen’s protection, representatives from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the EU Asylum Support Office and Médecins sans Frontières, to assess the situation in the Greek Islands. On 7 November, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking alongside Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, declared that refugees would be allowed into Europe unless the EU provided more support to Turkey.