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| Northern Nicosia's Kyrenia street (Photo: Tom Cleaver) |
The Cypriot government has proposed that the European Union provide €389 million worth of support for the Turkish Cypriot community over the course of the seven years between 2028 and 2034, as it submitted its proposal for the bloc’s multiannual financial framework for the seven-year period.
The figure amounts to a little short of €56m per year, and aligns with the level of funding proposed by the European Commission when it submitted its own proposal for the forthcoming multiannual financial framework last year.
While the proposed allocation for the Turkish Cypriot community amounts to only around 0.02 per cent of the total €1.73 trillion budget proposed by the Cypriot government, and an even smaller proportion of the €1.76 trillion, it does represent a significant increase from the €240m allocated for the period between 2021 and 2027.
At the most recent annual allocation, in September last year, €33.7m was provided to the Turkish Cypriot community by the European Commission, which said it wished to “support its socioeconomic development and facilitate Cyprus’ reunification process”.
“The aid programme aims to boost trade between the two communities across the Green Line by facilitating the alignment of Turkish Cypriot products with EU standards, for instance in the dairy and agricultural sectors,” it said.
It added that “support will also be directed to Turkish Cypriot small and medium-sized companies, as well as to entrepreneurs to help them grow and consolidate their businesses”.
“Another priority is to improve the skills of workers, teachers, and children with special needs, as well as continuing EU-funded scholarships for Turkish Cypriots in EU member states,” it said.
It went on to say that in last year’s allocation, it wished to “support projects in the areas of energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy, and environment protection, including bicommunal cooperation on the rehabilitation of Nicosia’s main riverbed”.
Additionally, the allocation included direct support in the form of €2.6m for the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) and €2.5m the bicommunal technical committee on cultural heritage.
Of these two allocations, the EU pointed out in September last year that since 2006, it has now allocated more than €43.7m to the CMP, which it said constitutes “more than 80 per cent of the funding for the CMP in this period”.
It said of its support for the technical committee on cultural heritage that this year’s allocation brought its total support for it to €35m.
More than €760m worth of funding has been allocated to the Turkish Cypriot community through the programme since 2006.
