The European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) published a report on Thursday 15 June highlighting the deepening of the partnership between the EU and Jordan since spring 2015 and the EU’s increased support in view of the Syrian crisis through special trade measures and cooperation assistance totalling €1.3 billion.
Since March 2015, Jordan has been hit very hard by the conflict in Syria and has taken in 650,000 refugees. It has played a leading role on the diplomatic and security fronts in the region and has undertaken ambitious political and economic reform, the report states.
The EU has stepped up its support for Jordan, through increased cooperation assistance, political support and macroeconomic and trade measures: a relaxing of EU rules of origin for Jordanian exporters that was agreed in summer 2016 (see EUROPE 11599).
Cooperation has been directed towards reinforcing the resilience of Jordan’s people and institutions in the face of the current economic, social, security and migration challenges, promoting an inclusive and dynamic economy and society, especially to foster job creation for the young people and women, and strengthening democratic governance, the rule of law and human rights.
The report highlights the intensive cooperation on the multilateral, regional and bilateral fronts on key issues such as cooperation on regional stability and security, improving macroeconomic stability, enhancing EU-Jordan trade relations, cooperating on education and strengthening governance.
Between March 2015 and April 2017, EU cooperation assistance to Jordan exceeded €1.3 billion. This includes: - €200 million in grants provided under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) bilateral assistance, focused on private sector development, solid waste management, enhanced democratic governance, renewable energy and energy efficiency; - the leveraging of €392 million worth of investment in water and energy in 2016 alone via the Neighbourhood Investment Facility; - €367 million in grants to enhance the resilience of the country and to mitigate the spill-over effects of the Syria crisis (including €166 million in humanitarian assistance); - €380 million in loans by means of two macro financial assistance programmes.
The report comes ahead of the 12th EU-Jordan Association Council, scheduled to take place in Brussels on 10 July. It is available at: https://goo.gl/CkF5tM (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)