The EU will support Cyprus’ recovery effort, head of the European Commission Office in Cyprus Georgios Markopouliotis has said.
Despite the fact that it will take time.
Markopouliotis was addressing an event at Neapolis University in Pafos, on Thursday, on a new growth model for Cyprus, which was organised jointly by the European Commission in Cyprus, the European Parliament in Cyprus and the Press and Information Office of the Republic in cooperation with the University and Pafos Europe Direct to mark the European Year of Citizens 2013.
Available EU funds for Cyprus will be mobilized as soon and as effectively as possible, Markopouliotis said, adding that already for the period of 2007 to 2013 an amount of approximately €40 million has been directed to Cyprus.
Cyprus is expected to receive about €1.1 billion during the period 2014 – 2020 he said, adding that half of that will come from EU structural funds to support actions on growth and the creation of jobs.
He further highlighted the fact that the European Investment Bank can be counted on as a valuable ally, as he put it, in the effort for growth.
Already, it has provided the Republic of Cyprus with a loan of the order of €100 million to be used in crucially important investments, he said.
Markopouliotis referred to the establishment of a special task force which will work in cooperation with Cypriot authorities to ensure, as he said, that EU funding will be directed in areas where it will be most effective.
The task force will also offer technical knowhow in order for the adjustment programme goals to be achieved, he added.
The Eurozone Finance Ministers, collectively known as the Eurogroup, decided to provide €10 billion financial assistance to Cyprus, after imposing losses to uninsured bank deposits in a bid to recapitalize the island`s troubled banking sector, heavily exposed in Greece.
As part of the bailout, Bank of Cyprus, the island`s largest lender, absorbed the good part of Cyprus Popular Bank (insured deposits and loans). Furthermore, 27.5% of uninsured deposits in BoC have been converted into equity, whereas an additional 22.5% remains frozen until an evaluation of the Bank`s assets.
