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BEIRUT: A visiting EU official said Friday that disbursing half a billion euros in funding to Lebanon was conditional on a banking sector restructure and reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
In May last year, the European Union announced one billion euros ($1 billion) in aid for Lebanon to help stem irregular migration to the bloc, with the assistance designed to strengthen basic services including education and health amid a severe economic crisis.
The EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica on Friday said that of the allocated funds, “500 million (euros) was already adopted in August last year, and another 500 million will come soon, but there are some conditions.”
“The main precondition is the restructure of the banking sector... and a good agreement with the International Monetary Fund,” she told a press conference after meeting with President Joseph Aoun.
“Once these conditions will be fulfilled we will continue of course with disbursing” the funds, she added.
The international community has long demanded Lebanon enact reforms to unlock billions of dollars to boost the economy after a financial crisis widely blamed on mismanagement and corruption took hold in 2019.
Lebanon last month elected a new president after a more than two-year vacuum. This month it formed a government, replacing the previous administration that had been operating in a caretaker capacity.
This week, the IMF said it was open to a new loan agreement with Lebanon following discussions with its recently appointed finance minister.
Suica also said she discussed with Aoun a “new pact for the Mediterranean” which means “we will start bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership agreements with countries including Lebanon,” without providing details.
She and Aoun also discussed issues including a ceasefire in the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as Lebanon’s army and the Syria crisis, she added.
Suica was scheduled to meet with other senior officials including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri during the visit, according to an EU statement.
The EU is desperate for stability in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region as it hopes to avoid major flows of migrants to Europe.
Lebanon says it hosts some two million Syrians, the world’s highest number of refugees per capita, and has also been a launchpad for Europe-bound migrants.

KABUL: After Afghanistan’s new rulers barred girls from higher education, Aria and Aida Sediqy sought other ways to start a profession. When those options were closed off too, they turned to art, which soon also became a path to self-sufficiency.

Aria, 21, graduated from high school in 2020 and passed national university entry exams. She studied economics at a university in Kabul but that did not last long.

The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, traveling without a male family member, and accessing public spaces.

Aria managed to complete one semester, but like thousands of other girls had nowhere to return after the ban took force. She chose instead to learn midwifery and together with her younger sister enrolled in a course at a private medical institute. Last year, classes for women at those institutes were banned too.

“After studying midwifery for a year, the Taliban closed medical colleges as well. For the past three years, I have looked everywhere to study, but all doors were shut for us, one after another,” she told Arab News.

She then tried to rekindle her childhood interest in craft and spent months training latticework in wood under the guidance of a female teacher who graduated in fine arts from Kabul University.

When she felt ready, her parents supported her in opening a small workshop at home. Last year, the little studio, Aria Art Gallery, started an online shop, which Aria is now running with her sister.

Each month, their workshop earns about $100.

“The income is not a lot, but I am happy that I can do something for myself. It’s a very good occupation for young girls and women,” she said.

Three girls have started learning craft from Aria. Two of them are her cousins, and the third is her younger sister, Aida, for whom the home gallery has also become a refuge when most opportunities for self-fulfillment are no more.

“We are left with a world of unfulfilled wishes, but I am happy to be able to learn art from my sister and run the gallery with her from our home,” Aida said.

“With the doors to education closed for all of us, we turn to art.”