Filenews 17 July 2022 - by Xenia Tourki
The Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, was in Cyprus last week. The visit of the European official took place at an important time, as Cyprus, like the rest of the States of the European Union, is facing a crisis of multiple dimensions having to face the consequences of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy prices, which in turn causes waves of appreciations and an increase in inflation.
During her visit to our country, Elisa Ferreira presented the main axes of the program "THALIA 2021-2027", with which Cyprus will receive European cohesion policy funds of €1.8 billion. In her interview with "Phileleftheros", she praised Cyprus' performance in utilizing EU funds, stressing that if used correctly, the country will more easily be able to reach the goals set for transition to a green economy by 2050.
She admitted that the challenges that exist are enormous and that Cyprus must place particular emphasis on energy issues. As, she said, our country has been blessed richly with renewable energy sources and that is where we must throw our weight in order to become independent from fossil fuels. She talked about the reforms that need to be made, emphasizing the transition to a digital economy and the development of economic indicators, so that we have more high-paid jobs and at the same time important growth indicators.
Elisa Ferreira visited the occupied territories and had contacts with the Turkish Cypriot community. As she said, she considers such meetings to be very important, so that one side understands the positions of the other. When asked about the thorny issue of migration flows, she said she raised it with the Turkish Cypriot officials with whom she met. She pointed out that she was given the impression that the Turkish Cypriots had seized the concerns of the Greek Cypriot side and that some moves will be made to address the issue. At the same time, however, she seemed negative about the possibility of cutting off European funding to the Turkish Cypriot community, arguing that it is a measure that will have negative consequences for both sides.
-How do you assess how Cyprus handles energy issues? What should it do to achieve the goals of the green transition and the Green Deal?
-Energy and its management is one of the main axes and projects of the partnership agreement, as shown by the relevant presentation of the Minister of Finance, Konstantinos Petrides. In fact, a very high percentage, about 45% of the total investment will be devoted to energy and the green transition, which I think makes sense. We are facing serious geopolitical, economic and climate challenges, which must be prioritised in terms of sustainable investment. We need to completely change our relationship with polluting energy sources. Especially if we take into account that we are in a country, Cyprus, which is blessed with a very high percentage of days, with a strong sun. In the northern part of the island about 9% of consumption comes from renewable energy sources and in the southern part it is about 11.7% when the average in Europe is 30%. And this with less favourable weather conditions. So one is to change the energy sources we use, to differentiate ourselves and the other is to save energy. This requires a change of mentality. Insulation of public and private buildings is an important source of energy savings. I think more and more, we really need to look very carefully at how we use our energy sources.
-You met several Cypriot officials. Did you point out to them that the country's energy policy needs to change?
-This was something that we made clear when we were in the phase of the negotiations of the partnership agreement, which we now signed. In fact, it began before the crises we are experiencing today, the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine when we had adopted a European climate law. We have this clear vision that by 2015 we must be the first zero-carbon continent, something that all Member States have agreed. This requires very demanding intermediate targets by 2030. We have also reinforced these objectives with our Fitfor55 proposals. Recently, due to the war, we tabled the RepowerEU initiative, which is a strategy to rid Europe of energy dependence on Russian supplies of fossil fuels, which is in line with our policy so far.
