Filenews 29 July 2022 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
With a long delay, they went through a thousand myriad waves, yesterday the Republic, after clearing the last milestone concerning the framework of non-performing loans, submitted the first request to the Commission to receive the European cash tranche of €85 million in the context of the implementation of the Recovery Fund.
Before submitting the request, the country implemented a total of 14 milestones concerning various investments and reforms in the areas of energy efficiency, the electricity market, the circular economy, the fight against corruption and transparency, financial services and public administration, digital skills and audits and controls.
These 14 prerequisites had to be implemented by December 31, 2021, however, there was an involvement in the legislative proposals that had to be approved by the Parliament, which delayed more than six months the submission of the application. It is worth noting that in order to allocate the money to Cyprus, the European Commission will audit the country's request to see whether it is consistent with the commitments it has given. The Commission will then send to the Council's Economic and Financial Committee a preliminary assessment of Cyprus' fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment.
It is reminded that by the end of 2026, Cyprus will receive, in ten tranches from the Recovery Fund, a total of €1.2 billion, after having implemented 133 measures related to 58 reforms and 75 investment projects and sponsorship plans. Last September, after the signing of the relevant agreement with the European Commission, Cyprus had received an amount of €157 million as pre-financing. The procedures for the implementation of the 18 prerequisites that should have been implemented at the end of June for the next tranche are continuing at a feverish pace. Their implementation is expected to get an extension of a few months.
