The European Union will increase its financial support for the Palestinian Authority with a three-year package worth around 1.6 billion euros, the EU Commissioner responsible for the Middle East told Reuters, BTA reports.
Dubravka Šuica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, stressed that the financial support would be coupled with reforms by the Palestinian Authority. She said that without reforms, the Palestinian Authority would not be strong and reliable enough to be a partner not only for the EU but also for Israel.
Of the total 1.6 billion euros, 620 million will be allocated to financial support and reforms of the Chamber, 576 million will be used for "sustainability and reconstruction" in the West Bank and Gaza, and €400 million will come in the form of loans from the European Investment Bank, subject to approval by its governing body.
The European Commissioner added that the EU's average support for Palestine over the past 12 years has been around €400 million per year. "We are now investing in a credible way in the Palestinian Authority," she added.
The EU is the largest donor to Palestine, and EU officials hope that the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, could one day take responsibility for Gaza after the end of the war between Israel and Hamas militants.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government rejects the idea of handing over control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority and distances itself from the EU's broader goal of a two-state solution, which includes the creation of a Palestinian state.