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29th March 2024
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HomeInvestmentEU funds to help restart the economy

EU funds to help restart the economy

CYPRUS will receive a total of €874 million from EU structural funds during the period 2014 – 2020, which will be used mainly in efforts to restart the economy.

The above was revealed during an event on structural funds 2014 – 2020 with experiences from Cyprus and Germany, at the Ministry of Finance, in Nicosia.

Cyprus has without doubt fallen to difficult times, Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades said addressing the event, adding that “we are in a very difficult and challenging transformation of our economy”.

According to the minister “we need to correct the imbalances of the public sector and of our banking sector; we need to create a new and more viable economic model”.

This, he noted, therefore directly relates to the opportunities which are available to EU states.

Georgiades continued saying that it should be acknowledged that 10 years after its EU accession, Cyprus has not actually made all those necessary steps which would have allowed it to contribute more to the EU but at the same time to gain more from our participation.

Referring to the experts who took part in the meeting he said that “we have much to learn from the German example, from the Italian example”.

“We need to work together public sector, private sector and the non-governmental sector to increase our success rates when it comes to competing EU funds”, he pointed out.

On his part Senior Planning Officer of Cyprus’ Planning Bureau Adonis Constantinides said that for the period 2014 – 2020 Cyprus will receive €526 million from the Cohesion Fund, €118 from the Rural Development Fund and approximately €30 million from the Fisheries Fund. He also referred to the additional €200 million the EU decided to disburse to Cyprus in 2014 and 2015.

Projects financed by the Cohesion Fund will in total come to €726 million, of which €401 million will be diverted to investment for growth, €29 million to cross-border cooperation and €11 million to the initiative for youth employment.

The priorities set by Cyprus which aim mainly to restart the economy will include projects that will enhance competitiveness, SMEs, combat unemployment, the efficient use of energy resources, combating poverty and rural and urban development.

Constantinides further noted that the projects chosen will have to be in accordance with the EU 2020 strategy.

At the same time the approach followed when selecting projects should be an integrated one and emphasis should be placed, inter alia, to research, technological development and innovation, ICT, SME competitiveness and the shift towards a low-carbon economy.

The greatest challenge, he said is the creation of a new growth model, calling on all stakeholders to contribute with their proposals and ideas as to how this can be achieved.

At the same time he spoke of the need to create synergies. We all have to come together, he pointed out.

The Cypriot economy has been hampered by recession since the third quarter of 2011. Excluded from international markets since May 2011, Cyprus requested and received a €10 billion financial assistance package from the Troika (EC, ECB, IMF).

The package featured a sizeable reduction of the island’s banking sector, as well as bail-in of uninsured deposits, which hampered the services sector, one of the island’s main source of income.

Cyprus News Agency

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8 COMMENTS

  1. Suggesting that we compete with the Germans and Italians for EU funding is like me competing with Vettel for the F1 championship, wishful thinking, they wrote the rules and they rule the roost.

  2. Even from thousands of miles away, I can hear the happy snorting of the Banks, Politicians, Lawyers and Developers etc gathering around the trough in great expectation of this ill advised gift from the Northern European States. Anyone care to bet that this money will not disappear into more Micky Mouse scams. It will be as usual a case of “Now you see it; now you don’t”.

  3. @Steve.R

    The tourists are only here because Egypt is closed for business. What is there to see in Paphos, apart from the Night Clubs? And of course the roadworks where half the road is closed and where no one is working.

    When Egypt re-opens the tourists who came here will remember how expensive it was, how everyone wanted a part of their money and what poor service they received.

    My relatives from the UK complained about a beetle being served in their food, much to the amusement of the tavern owner. They won’t be back, but are going to Turkey next year, cheaper and a better hotel.

  4. SMEs don’t stand a chance unless the building trade starts to kick in. I have a holiday villa in the Paphos area since 2005 and recently returned from a short trip. On arrival I was amazed at the number of holiday makers arriving. Paphos airport has never been as busy since 2005. The old place would never have coped. One worker I know there said it had been like it for weeks.

    The point is that the tourist trade is still there but unless things like the title deeds problems and associated issues are sorted out the building trade will remain the same

  5. To the average onlooker it does appear that the more inept the government is, the greater the reward it receives in terms of financial assistance from the EU.

    All very well in hindsight to say “We need to do this” or “We should have done that”. Citing the Italian example is hardly a recipe for success either, one would have thought!

    It will prove to be a very difficult undertaking to resuscitate a small, tourist-driven island’s economy that has been allowed to flat-line in the way it has.

  6. This nothing but bribery to keep Cyprus from leaving the Eurozone when it has extracted all the money it can out of the EU. Cyprus would be far better off on its own with the Cyp£ and restarting its exotic banking facilities in this part of the Med and the Middle East.

  7. The only solution after all the fiasco of bail ins and what ever gimics were used .Is To Back To The Cyprus Pound (take control of your money supply) This is why the Brits Kept the pound Sterling Wake up before its too late…..

  8. How about restarting the economy by issuing title deeds and receiving a massive boost in property transfer fees?

    As Homer, no not that one, would say Duh!

    Probably to difficult as the banks should have written down the value of NPL’s to an all time low but will no doubt be seeking the full value from the victims of the fraud.

    Cyprus should not get a euro until they solve this inherent defect.

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