PARIS — The European Commission on Friday adopted a €118.4 million ($130 million) assistance package to support the Palestinian Authority, in addition to West Bank and Gazan families, as part of its annual allocation for Palestine in 2023, said the office of commission president Ursula von der Leyen in a statement.
The assistance, according to the statement, will go toward the payment of salaries and pensions for civil servants in the West Bank, support for vulnerable families in the West Bank and in Gaza through the European Union’s Cash Transfer Program, patient treatment at East Jerusalem hospitals, and programs supporting the administrative and technical capacities of PA institutions.
The European Commission plans to allocate more assistance for Gaza in what Friday's announcement called a "mid-term package foreseen for 2024 with the aim of contributing to lay the ground for economic and political stability of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and [Israeli-controlled West Bank] Area C, based on the two-state solution." The mid-term package should amount to €61 million, but has not been fully approved by EU institutions.
"We are already reflecting on a wider mid-term package for next year to contribute to the economic and political stability of Gaza and the West Bank, once conditions allow on the ground, as part of wider international efforts to reinstate a two-state solution,” said Von der Leyen in the statement.
