A European Union official visiting Lebanon said Friday that the international body will increase its humanitarian assistance to the crisis-struck country, but that more significant long-term aid depends on reforms and a deal with the International Monetary Fund.

EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said at a press conference following his two-day visit that the EU will provide 60 million euros (more than $65 million) in humanitarian assistance to Lebanon in 2023, a 20% increase from last year.

Domestic, regional and international talks over the Lebanese file have intensified lately, Amal MP Qassem Hashem said.

The MP added that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is awaiting the outcome of these contacts to act accordingly.

Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh arrived in Paris and met with French presidential advisor for North Africa and the Middle East Patrick Durel on Friday, media reports said.

A report published in al-Akhbar newspaper Friday supposed that France might be willing to inform Franjieh that it has failed to convince the United States or Saudi Arabia about electing him as a president within a comprehensive deal.

The Biden administration is hopeful that warming ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia will help deescalate conflicts and crises in Lebanon and across the Middle East, a senior U.S. diplomat Barbara Leaf said.

Earlier this month, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations after seven years of rupture — a move that stirred cautious optimism across the region.

Major General Aroldo Lázaro, Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), chaired a regular Tripartite meeting at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura on Thursday.

A Qatari delegation is scheduled to visit Beirut next week to meet with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Najib Mikati and Hezbollah officials, informed sources said.

The delegation will meet with “Hezbollah’s leadership” in a bid for “presidential normalization with the party in a manner that meets the Arab and international aspirations regarding the needed salvation roadmap for Lebanon,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan daily in remarks published Thursday.

On a visit to Lebanon on Thursday, Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič, announced €60 million in humanitarian aid for the most vulnerable people in the country, including Syrian refugees and Lebanese people in need. The Commissioner is visiting EU-funded humanitarian projects and meeting humanitarian partners on the ground as well as the Lebanese authorities.

The funding comes as Lebanon’s population is facing increasing poverty levels, food insecurity, and disease outbreaks. An estimated four million people need humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs, the European Commission said in a statement.

Members of the European Parliament will next month submit a draft resolution related to returning the displaced Syrians who are present in Lebanon to their country, LBCI TV reported on Thursday.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will call next week for a cabinet session, his advisor said Thursday.

Cabinet was scheduled to convene last Monday but the session on public sector wages was postponed, after the government said last week that it will delay the start of daylight saving time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday said that “the issue of the municipal elections has become totally in the hands of the government.”