JERUSALEM, April 5, 2011 (WAFA) - The European Union (EU) Tuesday provided a contribution of €20 million (around NIS 100 million) to help the Palestinian Authority pay the March salaries and pensions of almost 85,000 Palestinian public service providers and pensioners, both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, said an EU statement.

The contribution to the March salaries and pensions comes from the initial €100 million financial package for the occupied Palestinian territory in 2011, which the European Union agreed to frontload in order to help the Palestinian Authority continue providing essential public services to the Palestinian people.

Most of the EU assistance to the Palestinian Authority is channeled through PEGASE, the financial mechanism launched in 2008 to support the three-year Reform and Development Plan presented in 2007.

M.A.