"It is nothing but a confirmation of the regular aid that the European Commission has been providing to Lebanon over the years (...). It is for basic services provided by the Commission to government institutions in the sectors of social protection, education, water and health," Mikati explained.

During a visit to Beirut on May 2, the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, announced a €1 billion aid package for Lebanon until 2027, which will be distributed through various development projects.

Von der Leyen explained that part of the money will be used to manage the 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in the country, an announcement that came as the number of boats carrying Syrian citizens arriving on the Cypriot coast from Lebanon has increased sharply.

For this reason, some Lebanese political blocs have interpreted the EU aid as a kind of bribe to stop the flow of refugees to Europe, since no conditions have been imposed on Lebanon to receive the financial aid.

"I want to stress that this aid is not conditional on any prior or subsequent conditions and that no agreement has been signed with the European Union on this matter. On the contrary, it is a continuation of the previous aid," the prime minister added in his speech to parliament.

According to Mikati, Von der Leyen promised that the package will be reassessed every six months to adjust to Lebanon's needs and that the bloc will increase its contribution to the Mediterranean country "as soon as the necessary reforms are approved".

For years, the international community has tried to pressure the Lebanese authorities to carry out a series of deep reforms to pull the country out of the economic crisis it has been suffering since 2019, a process that has made only limited progress due to inaction and political blockages in the country.

This lack of progress has prevented the formalization of an agreement reached two years ago at a technical level with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which made Lebanon's millionaire aid conditional on the prior implementation of reforms, as did other actors such as the EU.

At a press conference with the media, the EU delegation to Lebanon clarified last week that the €1 billion package is just an "increase" in the support they were already providing and that it will be distributed directly to partners, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

All this coincides with a hardening of Lebanon's position towards Syrian refugees, after an alleged Syrian criminal group assassinated a local member of the Christian Lebanese Forces party in early April.

The Lebanese authorities announced a series of measures last week, such as ordering the departure of all those who do not have legal residence in Lebanon.

The EU delegation explained that the measures were being analyzed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to determine their legality and did not want to speculate on the future of the package in relation to hypothetical scenarios, although it noted that it will be reassessed if "human rights violations" are committed.

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