The new projects include the public schooling of refugee children in Lebanon and social assistance for vulnerable refugees and local communities affected by the Syrian crisis in Lebanon and Jordan. The new aid package brings the overall value of projects under the Trust Fund to over €1.4 billion.

EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn commented: “The EU is continuing to deliver on its pledge to help Lebanon and Jordan, which host the largest per capita refugee population in the world. The new projects will substantially boost social protection and access to education for both Syrian and Palestine refugees from Syria, as well as for local communities.”

The new €167 million aid package includes the following actions:

• €100 million to guarantee access to education for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon
• €52 million to provide social protection and assistance to vulnerable refugees and host communities affected by the Syrian crisis in Lebanon
• €13 million to strengthen the resilience of Palestine Refugees from Syria, in Lebanon
• €2 million to strengthen the resilience of Palestine Refugees from Syria, in Jordan

Background

The assistance package was adopted today by the EU Trust Fund’s Board, which brings together the European Commission, members of the European Parliament, EU Member States and representatives of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the World Bank. Additional aid packages are planned for Jordan and Iraq in the second half of 2018.

Ahead of the Board’s meeting, on 19 June, the EU hosted an event in Brussels to address successes and challenges in the delivery of help to people affected by the crisis and to explore ways to better include them when designing and implementing aid programmes.

Since its establishment in December 2014, an increasing share of the EU’s support to help Syrian refugees and support Syria’s neighbouring countries to cope with the refugee crisis is being provided through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis. The Trust Fund reinforces an integrated EU aid response to the crisis and primarily addresses longer-term resilience and early recovery needs of Syrian refugees, host communities and their administrations in neighbouring countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

The Trust Fund is a key instrument to deliver on the EU’s pledges to help the refugee hosting countries made at the London conference on Syria in 2016 and the Brussels conferences on supporting the future of Syria and the region in April 2017 and April 2018. The Fund also underpins the EU Compacts agreed with Jordan and Lebanon to better assist them in the protracted refugee crisis. With the new package adopted today, the Fund has delivered a total of €522 million for Lebanon and €214 million for Jordan 3 years of operations, much more than initially foreseen.

Overall, €1.4 billion has been mobilised and pledged from the EU budget and contributions of 22 EU Member States and Turkey. This entire amount has now been adopted by the Board and turned into concrete projects on the ground helping refugees and host countries alike.

The Trust Fund’s programmes support basic education and child protection for refugees, training and higher education, better access to healthcare, improved water and waste-water infrastructure, as well as support for resilience, empowering women, fighting gender-based violence, and developing economic opportunities and social stability. The scope of the Fund also includes support for internally displaced persons in Iraq and the recovery of areas liberated from Da’esh, while also providing support in the Western Balkans to non-EU countries affected by the refugee crisis.

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The new EU law enforcement landscape takes shape

Today, lawmakers in Brussels took an important step towards improving Eurojust’s role in serving justice across borders for a safer Europe. They reached a provisional agreement on a new legal framework for Eurojust that will enhance the Agency’s operational capabilities and strengthen the cooperation with prosecution authorities of the Member States and partners in the area of Justice and Home Affairs cooperation, such as FRONTEX and Europol, in the fight against serious organised crime and terrorism.

Mr Ladislav Hamran, President of Eurojust, said: ‘I congratulate the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on the successful political agreement they have reached today on the new Eurojust Regulation. The new Regulation will make Eurojust fit for the future and increases Eurojust’s capabilities to support the national authorities in their fight against serious cross-border crime. The new landscape of law enforcement on EU level takes shape. With the new legal frameworks for Europol, the EPPO and now for Eurojust, the European Union steps up its pace to fight crime that is not limited by borders and takes yet another step in making the EU a safer place for our citizens. I hope that Member States will implement the new Regulation quickly.’

The new Regulation sets the objective to increase information exchange between Eurojust and Member States while ensuring an adequate level of data protection. It also brings governance reforms, including the creation of a new Executive Board, which will further improve Eurojust’s efficiency and management structure. Democratic oversight will be guaranteed through regular reporting to the European Parliament and national parliaments. The Regulation also establishes institutional, operational and administrative relations with the new European Public Prosecutor’s Office to ensure complementarity and synergies.

Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, also welcomed the agreement and stressed the importance of the agreement and the role of Eurojust: ‘Every year, Eurojust helps facilitate cooperation between national authorities in their investigations and prosecutions. In 2017 alone, Eurojust delivered concrete support in 4 500 investigations in all Member States and in cases which matter most to our citizens: terrorism, illegal migration and cybercrime, to name just a few.’

The provisional agreement reached today must now be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Following approval, the Regulation will be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later.

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Your data will be stored in the database until you unsubscribe from the service.

Certain data (name, e-mail address, preferred language, media name, media type) may be disclosed to the press offices of the European institutions, the Permanent Representations of the Member States and to European Union agencies, under the conditions laid down in Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation 45/2001.

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On 18 June 2018 the Council adopted a new multiannual management plan (MAP) for the North Sea concerning demersal fish stocks – species that live and feed near the bottom of seas.

The new measures will target key species covering more than 90% of the landings in the area (ICES divisions 2a, 3a and subarea 4) and being at risk of over-exploitation, as well as their by-catches. The North Sea basin is a complex fishing area marked by the presence of mixed stocks and the phenomenon of choke species, i.e. low volume quota species which, if reached, would lead to vessels having to tie up even if they still had quota for other species.

The new North Sea MAP will ensure that demersal fish stocks are sustainably exploited according to the principles of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management. Thanks to the new rules, the best available scientific advice will be the basis for setting ranges, within which total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas will be set in the future. Moreover further measures will be have to be taken to bring stocks back within safe biological limits where limits are exceeded.

The adoption of a multiannual management plan for fisheries in the North Sea is a fundamental contribution to making the principles of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy a reality. A predictable and science-based approach will help politicians make the right choices for the future competitiveness and sustainability of European fisheries, and will help fishermen have a longer term vision for their businesses.

Rumen Porodzanov, minister of agriculture, food and forestry of the Republic of Bulgaria and president of the Council

Next steps

The North Sea MAP was adopted at a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, without discussion. It will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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