The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced on Sunday 2 February that the EU wants to continue supporting Jordan “in its efforts to provide opportunities for its youth and to achieve sustainable economic growth”.
“As partners, we will continue to help Jordan to overcome the difficulties the country is facing at all levels, particularly due to the regional situation and the impact on the Jordanian economy”, he said at a press briefing with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman. Since 2011, the EU has allocated 2.8 billion euros in bilateral aid to Jordan.
“The EU remains firmly committed to supporting Jordan's generous efforts” in hosting 1.3 million Syrian refugees, Mr Borrell said. He took the opportunity to denounce the current situation in North-Western Syria, where “four million civilians are trapped, of which two million are children”. “We are now in the ninth year, entering the tenth year of the Syrian crisis (...) The situation is even worse in Idlib, where tens of thousands of civilians are being driven from their homes as a result of an arbitrary bombing campaign by the regime and Russian planes”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)