Cyprus secures €20.9 million boost from EU's recovery fund

In a significant development, the European Commission announced a pre-financing injection of €20.9 million for Cyprus from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, linked to the REPowerEU funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Minister of Finance welcomes this move, highlighting its association with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 'Cyprus – Tomorrow.'

The funds, totaling €104 million, are earmarked for the innovative REPowerEU Chapter, set to unfold within the broader framework of 'Cyprus – Tomorrow.' This chapter aims at implementing crucial reforms, upgrading energy incentive plans, and further propelling electric mobility initiatives, with a targeted horizon of completion by 2026.

The Finance Ministry's press release emphasizes that, so far, Cyprus has amassed €263 million from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. Pending the EU institutions' ongoing assessments of the application for the 2nd and 3rd tranches, submitted on December 15, 2023, an additional €152.2 million is expected to be disbursed.

The breakdown of the total collection (€415 million) from the mechanism, covering the period from 2021 to the first quarter of 2024, includes an initial pre-payment of €157 million upon the approval of the initial Plan in 2021. Subsequently, achieving the first 14 milestones in 2022 led to the disbursement of the first tranche, amounting to €85 million. Today's announcement of an additional pre-payment of €21 million follows the approval of the amended Plan and integration of the new REPowerEU Chapter. Anticipating completion of the 38 milestones for the 2nd and 3rd tranches, another €152.2 million is expected in Q1 2024.

Looking ahead, the Minister expresses gratitude to the European Commission, all partners, and implementing agencies for their cooperation. The government pledges to continue concerted efforts to meet the established goals and milestones within agreed time frames.