According to her, the EU hopes for smooth cooperation in preventing illegal migration and combating illegal human trafficking. To help the country manage migration, the EU is committed to keeping legal routes to Europe open.
The aforementioned funds will also support the Lebanese armed and security forces. “First and foremost it will be the provision of border management equipment and training,” von der Leyen said. In addition, this aid will strengthen health, education and social systems in Lebanon.
First of all, the Cypriot government recently called the growing number of Syrian refugees from Lebanon intolerable and called on the EU to take action. According to N. Christodoulidis, in the past months, Syrians came to Cyprus by boat from Lebanon, which is 160 km away, almost every day. Around 4,000 migrants have already been counted since the beginning of the year, compared to only 78 in the first quarter of last year.
In absolute terms, this is much less than in, for example, Italy, Spain and Greece, where refugees arrive by boat from countries such as Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Morocco or Turkey. However, measured by population, the highest number of asylum applications in the EU is made in Cyprus.
The EU’s financial injection will definitely come in handy for crisis-ridden Lebanon. The country is going through its worst economic crisis in history, which is linked to decades of corruption in politics and the economy.
Tags: giving billion euros Lebanon stop influx Syrians coming
