EU increases financial aid to Lebanon

EU increases financial aid to Lebanon

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The EU is stepping up its financial support to Lebanon to counter instability in the region and curb the number of Europe-bound refugees.

The bloc will pay €1bn in grants over the next three years, a significant increase in bilateral assistance to Lebanon, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday in Beirut.

The aid package comes amid a surge in hostility towards Syrian refugees in the country and an increase in irregular migration by boat to Cyprus from Lebanon. Plagued by a devastating economic crisis since 2019, Lebanon has struggled to accommodate the approximately 1.5mn Syrian nationals who have fled the war in their country — the largest per capita population of displaced people in the world.

“Since the outbreak of the fighting in Syria in 2011, Lebanon has borne the greatest burden among the countries of the region and the world in the matter of hosting the displaced . . . putting a great pressure on the Lebanese people as a whole and on all Lebanese sectors,” said Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

He welcomed the additional support from the EU in policing Lebanon’s borders, but also warned that the