Filenews 12 September 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Strict adherence to the timetables, aiming at the implementation of the reforms and investments included in the National Recovery Plan, was requested yesterday by the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides from leaders and representatives of the parties during the meeting held at the Presidential Palace, with the aim of coordinating for the timely promotion of the prerequisites.
Some of the milestones are pending in Parliament, some in the state machinery.
On September 1, the Republic forwarded to the European Commission the changes made to the Cyprus plan, which are about 50. In total, the Republic can disburse around €1.2 billion from the European Fund until 2026.
The revisions of the provisions of the scheme were made due to the reduction of €90 million. of the amount that Cyprus will receive from the Recovery Fund, due to the improvement of economic indicators last year. The funds will be replaced with additional resources to Member States through RePower EU.
An additional €104 million will be allocated to Cyprus. in the form of sponsorship, for the adjustment of the National Recovery Plan.
During yesterday's meeting, officials of the Ministry of Finance presented to the chiefs the changes made to the plan.
Specifically, reforms are increased to 60 from 58 initially and investments are reduced to 70 from 75 in the original plan, of which 45% will concern the green transition and 22% the digital transformation.
According to the progress of the implementation of the plan, important reforms have been promoted so far, both with the adoption of legislation and decisions by the Council of Ministers.
Of the 26 bills and regulations that must pass through the Cypriot Parliament by 2026, ten have been approved.
It is worth noting that many projects are running, while others have been completed. At the same time, the implementation of a large number of grant schemes and private sector investments is in progress, out of the 40 planned with a total budget of €400 million.
Representatives of the Ministry of Finance said that immediately after the approval of the revised plan by the EU, it is estimated that around November the Republic will submit requests to the Commission for the disbursement of the second and third tranches, totaling €200 million.
An effort will be made to submit requests for the two tranches (second tranche €85 million and third tranche €115 million) by the end of the year.
Government Spokesman Constantinos Letympiotis said that "it is very important, not only that not a single euro is lost from the Plan in terms of raising funds, but much more that these very important reforms can be implemented, which aim to modernize our country, to make Cyprus an even more modern and more digital European state."
What is pending for the two tranches?
In relation to the 18 prerequisites of the second tranche, 4 legislative milestones have been completed and one concerning incentives to encourage investments in research and innovation will be resubmitted to Parliament.
In addition, two milestones have been implemented that did not need to be passed by Parliament, as well as 8 investments.
In relation to the 30 milestones of the third tranche, a piece of legislation has been approved by Parliament while a revised bill for trapped property buyers will be submitted later this month. In addition, two other bills were carried over in other tranches.
Another 6 milestones have been completed that do not need the approval of the Parliament, another 4 are pending and will be implemented by the end of the year and 8 investments have been achieved.
