Today, the European Union has made a contribution of around €25 million to help the Palestinian Authority pay the January salaries and pensions of its civil servants. This contribution targets mainly employees in the social sectors, ensuring timely disbursement ahead of Ramadan.

This support will help the Palestinian Authority to meet its commitments towards Palestinian civil servants, as it continues to face a challenging fiscal situation as a result of the prolonged crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory.

This is the first payment of a total amount of €118.4 million that the EU has allocated under its 2023 package to support the Palestinian Authority, adopted after its review of the EU assistance to Palestine in November 2023. Other payments will be made in the upcoming months, notably to contribute to payments of civil servants salaries, reimbursement of the costs of referrals to the East Jerusalem Hospitals and social allowances for vulnerable Palestinian families.  

The Commission is aware that any additional measures should not constitute obstacles to the implementation of its financial assistance to Palestine nor delay the disbursements, which are urgently needed.

"At this critical juncture, the European Union remains steadfast in its support to Palestine, continuing to offer substantial contributions to the Palestinian Authority's budget to facilitate the payment of civil servant salaries and pensions, in key areas such as health and education, and provide social welfare services to Palestinian vulnerable families. This support demonstrates once more our enduring support for Palestinian state-building efforts. The EU and its Member States remain the most reliable and committed donors and partners to the Palestinian people," said EU Representative Alexandre Stutzmann.

Background

Since 2008, most of the European Union's assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is channelled through the PEGASE Direct Financial Support, supporting the PA reform process and various national development plans. PEGASE supports the PA’s recurrent expenditures, mainly the salaries and pensions of civil servants, the social allowances paid through the cash transfer programme and part of the costs of referrals to the East Jerusalem Hospitals. Since February 2008, over €3 billion were disbursed through PEGASE by the European Commission and various development partners, mostly EU Member States. In addition, the EU provides assistance to the Palestinian people through UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, as well as through a wide range of other humanitarian and development cooperation projects.