The Cypriot Recovery and Resilience Plan will be submitted to the Council of Ministers next week with the aim of raising more than € 1 billion from the EU Recovery and Resilience Fund, which will be the weapon for economic counterattack in the coming years, said the Minister of Finance. Konstantinos Petridis, reiterating the need to approve the pending reforms in Parliament, which are a precondition for the successful raising of these funds.
At the same time, in statements after a meeting with the Deputy President of DISY, Haris Georgiadis, Mr. Petridis said that the Government will submit to the new Parliament a bill to suspend the payment of VAT in the coming periods without any charge.
In his statements, Mr. Petridis stated that with the acceleration of the vaccination program next Monday, the economy, restaurants, retail trade and other economic activities will gradually open.
"We are entering a period of recovery, we are entering a period of counterattack. In this context, I have informed the Vice President of DISY that on the 12th of the month the Council of Ministers will approve the Recovery Plan, the EU Recovery Fund, which will be the main weapon of the economic counterattack for the next 5 to 6 years. ", which will accompany and specify the new model of economic development", he added.
Assuring that the government will continue to support the economy where and where it is needed until the full liberalization of the market, YPOIK said that "in this context we have agreed with the proposal of DISY as with the opening of Parliament to immediately submit a bill which will includes arrangements for non-imposition of any financial charge or interest on taxable persons who have an amount payable in the tax return relating to the tax periods March (payment by 10 May), June and July.
As he said, a condition for the above regulations to apply, the tax returns must be submitted in time. "So no fine will be paid to those who, due to the pandemic and the fact that they are currently facing a liquidity problem, will not be able to pay their VAT debts on Monday, when the market opens." he said.
Answering a question what are the conditions for the successful raising of funds corresponding to Cyprus from the Recovery Fund, Mr. Petridis said that there are two conditions.
He said that the first condition is the approval of the Plan by the European Commission, noting that "that the comments we have received so far from the European Commission itself are beyond positive for how ambitious, how holistic and how it meets the requirements of of the European Commission itself for a new model of development that will concern the new generation, as the title says ".
Regarding the second condition, namely compliance with the recommendations of the European Commission, Mr. Petridis said that "it is up to us to implement these reforms, which will accompany the Recovery Fund as conditions for disbursement", adding that the reason "This is not to impose anything on the Member States."
"It is not just money, it is not just the funds that create a new model of recovery," he said, adding that a new model of the economy, of society is created primarily by structural reforms and is for what in a holistic package, the European Commission, the EU rightly insist that everything must be a package ".
Mr. Petridis said that the government did not expect these reforms to be imposed by the European Commission, as a condition of the disbursement terms, but has been running them for a long time with most of them waiting for a vote by Parliament.
He referred to the reform of the Local Government, the public service, the evaluation systems, the reform of the judiciary.
"How can we talk about a new model of development when we are a country that due to the non-reform of the Justice sector we are the country that spend years and years to adjudicate a case or to enforce the terms of contracts in court. "How will a country develop with the investment credibility it needs?" He asked.
"And that is why if we really care about the good of this place for the future of this place, these reforms, which have no particular political ideological nuance, must finally be voted by consent by the Parliament so that we can let's change our place ", concluded YPOIK.
In his own statements, Mr. Georgadis expressed satisfaction with the fact that "we have a government that has proved in practice that it has the will and the means to help the economy, our fellow citizens, workers, businesses to be kept in this hard time".
"For DISY", he said, "the dynamic restart of economic activities, the full recovery of our economy is the top priority, we have traveled the distance, we are very close to the final lifting of restrictive measures and this is the time we must methodically , to collectively support, I say it again, the dynamic restart of economic activity ".
Saying that the next day is equally important, ie not only the post-crisis period, Mr. Georgiadis said that "the chapter of the Recovery Fund, which we discussed with the Minister, is perhaps the greatest opportunity for our country, a opportunity that arises every few decades ".
He argued that the opportunity of the Recovery Fund "is perhaps as important as the very inclusion of our country in the hard core of the eurozone, we can through the Recovery Fund to achieve the transformation and modernization of the Cypriot economy," he concluded.