EC FUNDING FOR UNWRA EMERGENCY APPEAL IN 2005: DEMARCHE RESPONSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001581 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/ANE - RWARD; E - ADERSE; EUR/ERA; NEA; DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID - ANE AND DCHA E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2015 TAGS: PREF KPAL PREL EUN UNWRA USEU BRUSSELS SUBJECT: EC FUNDING FOR UNWRA EMERGENCY APPEAL IN 2005: DEMARCHE RESPONSE REF: A. (A) SECSTATE 65023 ¶B. (B) BRUSSELS 00752 Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY: PRM OFF MARC J. MEZNAR. REASONS 1.4 (B) A ND (D). 1.(SBU) Summary. The European Commission (EC),through funding mechanisms in ECHO, DG RELEX and EuropeAid, will continue to provide substantial funding for vulnerable Palestinians, as well as for the Palestinian Authority, in ¶2005. However, it does not have immediate plans to respond to UNRWA's emergency appeal. The EC has long advocated that UNRWA incorporate the repeated "emergency appeals" into its core budget. End Summary. ¶2. (C) On April 20, PRM Assistant delivered reftel a demarche to Giuseppe Angelini, ECHO desk officer for UNRWA and Palestinian issues, and Cees Wittebrood, Head of Unit, ECHO 2, Central and Eastern Europe, NIS, Mediterranean and Middle East. The EC agreed that the situation for Palestinians, specifically those in the occupied territories, remains difficult. Angelini repeated reservations expressed last year when asked to increase funding to UNRWA's emergency appeal (reftel b). He questioned UNRWA's "emergency appeal" process and emphasized that the EC does not look upon the Palestinians as victims of an immediate, short-term crisis but rather as casualties of a long and protracted emergency. ¶3. (C) Angelini explained that DG RELEX had recently earmarked 63.6 million euros (equivalent to $82 million) to UNWRA for Palestinian refugees as their programmed 2005 contribution with the signing of a funding agreement with the UNWRA Deputy Commissioner General. This agreement is to provide support to education, health, relief and social services programs for UNWRA. The current EC contribution is part of a four-year framework agreement between the two organizations for the period 2002-2005. Angelini said the agreement will be extended through 2006 with a 5 percent increase over the 2005 contribution. ¶4. (C) Angelini said ECHO plans to provide roughly 34 million euros to assist vulnerable Palestinians in the Middle East in ¶2005. ECHO will adopt a first funding decision after consulting Member States and receiving comments from the European Parliament; it should be finalized in time for the UNWRA Donor's Conference to be held in Amman on May 18-19. Angelini estimated the first tranche would total around 28.3 million euros. The bulk of this decision will be for the West Bank and Gaza (25 million euros, of which 6 million will be channeled through UNRWA),with the balance being earmarked for activities in Lebanon (3.3 million euros, of which 500,000 will be channeled through UNRWA). ¶5. (C) Angelini provided the following breakdowns in terms of implementing partners for the West Bank/Gaza portion of this funding tranche: 52 percent to NGOs, 38 percent to UN agencies (UNRWA, OCHA, WFP and UNICEF) and 10 percent to ICRC. The thematic breakdown for activities is as follows: 20 percent for water/sanitation; 22 percent for food; 26 percent for emergency employment; 11 percent for health; 6 percent for protection; and, 5 percent for coordination. ¶6. (C) The balance of the 2005 funding (5.7 million euros) will be allocated later in the year based on funding needs determined at that time. Angelini emphasized that ECHO does not make allocations by agency, but instead based upon an assessment of the operational capacity of its implementing partners and therefore cannot "plan" exactly how much they intend to contribute specifically to UNRWA this year. Schnabel .