Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002880/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Nikolas Farantouris (The Left)
Reliable and substantiated international reports[1] reveal that a large part of the EU’s IPA funds to Türkiye have been channelled by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Government into funding espionage operations across Europe. The Turkish Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs are alleged to have used hundreds of millions of euro to gather intelligence against Member States. The issue is further complicated by the fact that Türkiye is becoming a major producer of biometric passports and is already printing passports on behalf of Hungary and France,[2] while cooperation with the new Al-Jolani regime in Syria has also recently been announced.[3]
In light of the above:
- 1.What measures does the Commission intend to put in place to monitor the funds received by Türkiye in the framework of pre-accession assistance?
- 2.Does the Commission intend to request the return of any funds not used for the purposes for which they were granted to Türkiye?
- 3.Does the Commission intend to take measures to protect the biometric data of European citizens from non-EU countries such as Türkiye, which are involved in the collection and processing of such sensitive data?
Submitted: 15.7.2025
- [1] https://nordicmonitor.com/2025/06/eus-aid-to-turkey-diverted-to-spying-operations-in-europe-by-erdogan-government/
- [2] https://www.biometricupdate.com/202209/turkey-to-print-hungarian-french-biometric-passports
- [3] https://www.biometricupdate.com/202501/new-syrian-leadership-asks-turkey-to-supply-identity-cards-passports