The Foreign Ministers of 15 Member States (Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) called on the European Commission on Friday 8 April to release EU aid funds to Palestine for 2021, expressing concern about the continued delay in its payment due to the Commission’s proposals to make funding conditional on education sector reform (see EUROPE 12921/22).
“As you know, the Palestinian Authority is in a challenging situation and is experiencing a severe fiscal crisis, further compounded by the inflation of oil and wheat prices caused by the war in Ukraine”, they stressed in a letter to Neighbourhood Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, revealed by Politico. In their view, the delay in releasing aid could weaken the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, introducing conditionality at a time when the Palestinian Authority has already embarked on an ambitious education reform programme “risks undermining or even reversing the progress achieved to date” and could harm the dialogue between Europe and Palestine, the ministers warned.
“It is clear that the Commission’s current proposal, which seeks to introduce conditionality in the education sector, does not enjoy broad support. Eighteen Member States voted against it or abstained”, the ministers noted.
On Monday 11 April, on his arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council, the Irish Minister, Simon Coveney, said that there was “no justification” for the delay. “There are already enough problems in the world without creating more”, he added.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/17f (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)