In Middle East, EU patches up where it can: green light for a 500 million package for Lebanon

Brussels – The EU’s effort to ensure a buffer of stability around the powder keg in the Middle East continues. In line with what Ursula von der Leyen announced during her visit to Beirut last May, the European Commission today (Aug. 1) adopted a €500 million financial assistance package for Lebanon.

This is the first substantial tranche of the larger one billion support through 2027 stipulated between Brussels and Beirut and called for by EU heads of state and government in the European Council’s April 17-18 conclusions, in which the EU reaffirmed its strong support for Lebanon and acknowledged the “difficult circumstances the country is going through domestically and because of regional tensions.” Tensions that have since escalated exponentially, culminating in the raid in Beirut and Tehran by which Israel killed Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s commanders, and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

With the 500 million for 2024-25, the European Commission hopes to trigger a path of reform in Cedar country, more flourishing economic activity and support social measures for the most vulnerable segment of the population. As von der Leyen announced in May when she met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the assistance package has at least two other priority objectives: security and the management of migration and refugee flows in the country. “We will support the Lebanese Armed Forces and the general and internal security forces,” the EU leader had said, providing “equipment, training, and the necessary infrastructure for border management.” In return, Brussels “counts on your (Lebanon’s, ed.) good cooperation to prevent illegal migration and combat migrant smuggling.”

In addition to refugees from Syria (nearly one million people, according to UNHCR figures), Lebanon, in deep economic and social crisis, faces the impact of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the increasingly serious exchanges of courtesies between the Jewish state and Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian political and military organization that controls large territories in southern Lebanon—in which, by the way, there are significant military contingents from France, Italy, and Spain, as part of the UN UNIFIL peacekeeping force mission. “We are deeply concerned about the unstable situation in southern Lebanon; the security of Lebanon and Israel are at stake,” von der Leyen had stressed to Mikati, adding, “Again, Lebanese armed forces are crucial, and the European Union is ready to work on how to strengthen their capabilities.”