The European Commission has adopted a reprogramming plan that will help promote growth in Cyprus and strengthen the impact of EU regional funds there.
The decision to redirect €21m worth of Regional Funds is intended to help the country deal with the current socio-economic crisis and ensure a quicker delivery of available investments particularly when it comes to supporting small and medium sized business and the employment of young people. This revision was requested by Cyprus earlier this year and has been given added political momentum in the last few weeks The decision will see funds from lesser performing regional policy areas being redirected to where the funds are likely to have more impact for growth and jobs in the shorter term.
Some €11m worth of funds will be reallocated to build on projects for SMEs (€8.5m) and for measures to promote youth entrepreneurship (€2.5m). A further €10m will be moved to projects for the regeneration of urban and rural areas.
The decision to shift funds from one area to another is mainly due to the deterioration of socio-economic conditions in Cyprus in recent months, but it also aims to compensate for the slower progress of implementation in some areas of investment.
Commenting on the reprogramming decision, Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn said: “The decision will help Cyprus to weather this crisis and tackle its economic problems by using EU regional funds in the most effective way possible- in areas that will contribute to the countries efforts to boost growth and competitiveness, particularly that of its SMEs. We are working closely with the Cyprus authorities and are in continuous discussion on how EU regional funds can support the country’s efforts to emerge out of this crisis.”
