Following the lifting of the EU’s economic sanctions (see EUROPE 13650/17) and while the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, is currently in Syria, the European Commission announced, on Wednesday 4 June, €175 million for Syria’s social and economic recovery.
According to a Commission press release, this funding will be used in particular to support Syrian public institutions with the help of Syrian and foreign experts, including from the Syrian diaspora.
The funds will also facilitate bottom-up and community actions in the areas of energy, education, health, livelihoods and agriculture. There are also plans to revitalise rural and urban economies by supporting livelihoods and job creation in communities across the country, and to increase access to finance for the most vulnerable populations.
Lastly, the funding should enable the promotion of transitional justice, accountability and human rights, including means to fight against impunity, notably by supporting human rights and the missing people file. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)