On Thursday 7 December, the European Commission announced that €150 million has been released from the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis in order to finance projects for Syrian refugees and their host communities in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Serbia.
The EU Trust Fund board (which brings together the European Commission, members of the European Parliament, EU member states and representatives of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the World Bank) approved these projects to "substantially boost local service delivery and economic development", according to a press release from European Commission for Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn.
The projects are intended to support the most affected municipalities in the region, agricultural livelihoods and food security, school construction, the upgrading of waste-water systems in areas with high refugee concentration, as well as refugee protection, research and advocacy. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)