Salam Urges Additional EU Development Aid

Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged the European Union on Tuesday to increase its development assistance to Lebanon to consolidate stability in the country.

“The European Commission and EU member states should be aware of the danger of threats that Lebanon is facing and their social and economic repercussions,” said Salam.

EU funding in the coming two years should focus on infrastructure development, he said.

The premier stressed that the support for specific projects in low-income communities would “limit social tension and preserve stability.”

Salam spoke during the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding for the Single Support Framework setting the priorities and financial allocations for the cooperation between the EU and Lebanon for the current period 2014-2016.

The MoU was signed at the Grand Serail by European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule and Economy and Trade Minister Alain Hakim.

During his speech at the ceremony, Salam urged the EU to help Lebanon meet the burden of Syrian refugees, whose numbers in the country have crossed 1.5 million.

He said one of the solutions would be to transfer a large number of the displaced Syrians to other countries.

The United Nations said on Monday that it has started cutting the food aid it provides to 4.2 million Syrians ravaged by war because of a shortfall in funding.

Cutbacks in aid to refugees in countries neighboring war-torn Syria will start from next month. Syrians in Lebanon will receive 20-30 percent less assistance.

Fule held on Tuesday separate talks with Salam, Bassil and Hakim.

G.K.

M.T.