Filenews 15 January 2021
Cyprus' draft proposals, including projects and reforms, are sent to the Commission by Monday, at a total cost of €1.2 billion, for funding from the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility (Next Generation EU) for the period 2021 to 2026.
The EU Fund aims at a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, addressing its economic and social consequences and the long-term shielding of EU economies.
The aim, as stated in the CYPE by a source of the Ministry of Finance involved in the matter, is to complete in the Directorate-General for Finance of the European Commission (DGECFIN) the discussion/examination of the proposals by April 2021, when they will be submitted in official form to the Commission for approval. He noted that discussions with the Directorate-General for Finance are expected to begin next week.
Projects and reforms should be completed by August 2026, otherwise Cyprus will not be able to receive funding from the Fund. From the EU Recovery Fund Cyprus can raise a total of €968 million to finance projects and reforms and the reason proposals exceeding this amount have been included, according to the same source, is due to the need to run more projects and reforms to avoid the possibility that Cyprus will not be able to disburse the full amount of €968 million. , due to any delay in the completion of some projects by 2026 or in the passage by the House of reform bills.
As stated in the CYPE, the same source, in order to have sufficient time, is to sign the contracts and start the implementation of the projects by 2023 so that they can be completed by 2026, when the milestone set by the EU for disbursement of the amounts attributable to each Member State expires.
He noted that the disbursement of funds from the Recovery Fund includes projects for which contracts have been signed from February 2020 onwards, as long as they meet the Fund's criteria.
He also said that any disbursements from the Fund could be made after the adoption of the Cyprus draft projects and reforms, and noted that disbursements would be made twice each year, after Cyprus had submitted progress reports on each project and reform and approved by the Commission.
Five priority axes
In particular, the support source told the CYPE that Cyprus' proposals are divided into five priority axes, including many projects concerning, among other things, projects for Renewable Energy Sources and sustainable transport.
He said the five priority axes are Public Health and Civil Protection – Lessons from the Pandemic, Accelerating the Transition to a Green Economy, Strengthening the Competitiveness and Resilience of the Economy, Towards a Digital Age and Labour Market, Education and Human Capital. Priority axes will consist of 14 - 15 Components.
In more detail, he noted that 20% relate to digital projects both for digital infrastructure and eGovernment projects aimed at modernising many parts of the public sector.
In addition, he said that there are projects involving incentives to help businesses, and particular emphasis will be placed, as he stressed, on the primary and secondary sectors of the Cypriot economy in order to broaden the productive base of the economy, beyond the services sector, which is also one of the objectives of the Recovery Fund.
In this respect, the same source said that the Ministry of Finance expects the completion by the Economy Council of the study on the new development model of the Cypriot economy from which actions will be adopted which will be financed by the Recovery Fund.
Emphasis will also be placed on the modernisation of education and many actions included in the Cyprus proposals concern skills within schools (Interdisciplinary approach to Natural Sciences, Technology, Engineering science and Mathematics) and the issue of tele-education.
In addition, in relation to the reforms, the source of the MINISTRY told the CYPE that these include, among many others, the reforms of local government, the courts, the public service and the evaluations and promotions of civil servants.
Eyenews/AFP
