EU Mulls Cutting Funds to Turkey as Drilling Fight Escalates

  • Government envoys to discuss menu of measures on Wednesday
  • Sanctions follow Turkish drilling in area claimed by Cyprus

Construction workers place a Turkish national flag on the dome of  mosque in Istanbul.

Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
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The European Union may suspend most high-level contact with Turkey and cut the flow of funds in protest at its drilling activities off the coast of Cyprus.

Those measures are among a range of proposals that EU government envoys will discuss Wednesday in Brussels and could limit the European Investment Bank’s sovereign-backed lending in Turkey and confirm a cut of some 146 million euros ($163 million) in aid for next year, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Turkish lira pared gains on the news.