13/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Aid for the Palestinian Authority. In October the EU gave €19 million under the Pegase mechanism (Palestinian-European Mechanism for Management of Socio-Economic Aid) for the payment of salaries and pensions of more than 84,000 civil servants in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, John Gatt-Rutter, the EU representative has just announced. Of this amount, €13.8 million comes from the Commission, €4 million from Sweden and €1.2 million from the Netherlands - specifically for the payment of salaries in the justice sector. Speaking of the serious financial difficulties of the Palestinian Authority, Gatt-Rutter called on the other donors to continue their financial efforts to preserve the ability of the Palestinian Authority to supply services to the Palestinians. Since February 2008, about €1.4 billion has been distributed via the Pegase direct financial support programmes. (CG/transl.fl)