Press Release: EU provided extra €40 million to the Palestinian Authority

The European Union provided an additional €40 million to the Palestinian Authority to help meet its recurrent expenditures and ensure the continued delivery of public services. The funds will be used to help pay for salaries and pensions, social allowances to vulnerable Palestinian families and fuel for the power plant to provide electricity to the people of Gaza. This amount comes on top of the €440 million that the European Commission pledged last December in Paris to assist the Palestinians in 2008. Also today, the EU and the Palestinian Authority (PA)launched - using part of that €440 million sum - a €37 million public infrastructure investment programme that will bring benefits to the Palestinian people by improving the delivery of public services. The programme will help to upgrade public infrastructure in areas identified by the Palestinian Authority as priorities for new investment, including security and the rule of law and electricity. All the funds are channelled through the European Union assistance mechanism for the Palestinians, PEGASE.