Press Release: Commission authorises special payment to Palestinian Authority

On 8.11.00, the European Commission authorised payment of up to euro 27 million to the Palestinian Authority to help it meet urgent current expenses such as salaries for public sector employees. The payment will be made under a special fund set up in 1998 to provide funding in the form of refundable advances to the Palestinian Authority in cases where the Israeli authorities did not transfer tax receipts on time to the Palestinian Authority. Under the 1994 Israeli-Palestinian Paris Protocol on Economic Relations Israel collects the proceeds from certain indirect taxes and customs duties and transfers them on a monthly basis to the Palestinian Authority.