The European Union plans to increase its financial support to the Palestinian Authority with a three-year program of approximately 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion), announced Dubravka Suica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean.

The commissioner specified that this financial support should be accompanied by reforms of the Palestinian Authority, which is often criticized for its corruption and poor governance. "We want them to reform, because without reforms, they will not be strong or credible enough to be an interlocutor—not only for us but also for Israel," she stated.

Suica indicated that 620 million euros would be allocated to the financial support and reforms of the Palestinian Authority, 576 million euros to the "resilience and recovery" of the West Bank and Gaza, and 400 million euros would be granted as loans from the European Investment Bank, subject to the approval of its governing body. She specified that the EU's average support to the Palestinian Authority amounted to about 400 million euros over the past 12 years. "We are now investing credibly in the Palestinian Authority," said Suica.

The commissioner's remarks come ahead of a first "high-level political dialogue" between the EU's foreign ministers and Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Mohammad Moustapha, which will be held Monday in Luxembourg.

The EU is the main donor to the Palestinians, and European officials hope that the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, will one day also be able to take charge of Gaza once the war between Israel and Hamas ends. However, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far rejected the idea of entrusting Gaza to the PA and has ignored the EU's broader goal of a two-state solution, which would involve the creation of a Palestinian state.