![Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, centre, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet at the government palace in Beirut on May 2, 2024 [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]](/Uploads/Images/News/2024/5/Image-2429-20240519074211.jpeg)
Analysts and rights groups question whether large EU grants to Lebanon have anything to do with getting its economy out of the hole it is in.
Lebanon and the Lebanese people are still suffering a debilitating economic crisis that has gripped the country since 2019.
The pound has plummeted to less than 10 percent of its value before the crisis, savings have disappeared both in terms of exchange rates and actual deposits as banks announce they have no cash to release, and more and more people worry about simply staying alive.
About 80 percent of the population is below the poverty line and 36 percent is below the “extreme poverty line”, living on less than $2.15 a day.
A recent deal worth 1 billion euros ($1.06bn) with the European Union may have been seen as a godsend in such circumstances, but it has brought to the fore even more problems.
EU grants over the past three years are not purely to help Lebanon’s economy.
Rather, they are mostly to “ensure the wellbeing of host communities and Syrian refugees”, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Nearly three-quarters of the package is earmarked for that in hopes that refugees will be dissuaded from heading for Europe.
Lebanon has taken in millions of Syrian refugees who have fled their country’s 13-year war.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.