Shortly after last week's €1 billion ($1.08 billion) deal between the European Union (EU) and Lebanon was announced, it quickly became clear the arrangement was not particularly popular in the host country.
"The Lebanese ... people are not for sale, nor for rent," one opposition politician in Lebanon, Gebran Bassil, stated in an interview.
"The ruling junta has exchanged the security, stability and future of the Lebanese for 30 pieces of silver," politicians from an opposition coalition complained in a statement.
"It is propaganda from Brussels to Beirut, without guaranteeing governance or investigating corruption," Halime El Kaakour, a politician who took part in anti-corruption protests in 2019 before being elected into office, argued on social media.
The deal was announced last Thursday during a visit to Beirut by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides. It consists of a €1 billion aid package for Lebanon, starting this year and running until 2027. Most of the money — around €736 million — is intended to help Lebanon care for its refugee population, most of which is Syrian. The rest is to help Lebanon improve border and migration control.
Lebanon has one of the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. The country, with a population of over 5.2 million, hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrians, most of whom fled from next-door Syria during their country's civil war.
Since the start of the war around 2012, there have been tensions between native Lebanese and displaced Syrian residents. Lebanon's recent economic and political crises have only worsened this.
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