The European Commission has promised Lebanon financial aid totalling around €1 billion ($1.07 billion) in order to stop the flow into the European Union of refugees from Syria currently living there. “We are here first and foremost to say that the European Union strongly supports Lebanon and its people and we want to reinforce our longstanding cooperation,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Beirut on Thursday, following talks with acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. “To underline our support, I can announce a financi…