Estephan Salameh, the advisor to the Palestinian Prime Minister, announced Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had submitted a formal request to the European Union to increase its annual financial aid to Palestine. Salameh told the official radio the request was submitted during the videoconference meetings of the Palestinian-European Joint Committee that took place last Monday.
The PM’s advisor mentioned that Palestine requested the EU to increase its annual financial aid, including support for the public treasury and investments in various development projects.
The request came in light of the financial crisis afflicting the Palestinian Authority due to the decline in aid given and amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Palestinian officials have repeatedly complained about a sharp drop of up to 70 percent in the amount of international aid provided to the Authority during the past two years. Official data show that in the first seven months of this year, the PA received direct foreign support to the Treasury of about $ 255 million, down from about $ 500 million in the corresponding period of 2019.
The EU is the largest supporter of Palestine economically and financially. Salameh said that there is a Palestinian effort to expand the horizons of cooperation in various fields with the countries of the Union.
"The Palestinian-European Joint Committee meetings focused on ways to push forward the start of negotiations on the full partnership agreement between the European Union and Palestine,” he said.
The advisor explained that Palestine has been seeking for years to start official consultations to reach a full partnership agreement with the EU, which requires the approval of all EU countries
Salameh said there are recent indications of full support from the European Union countries regarding the full partnership agreement with Palestine, hoping that formal negotiations start next year.
