The assurance that Cyprus will continue the implementation of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan "with consistency", was given on Friday by the Minister of Economy, Konstantinos Petridis, presenting the progress of the implementation of the Plan.
During his presentation in the context of the first annual event for the Recovery Plan which was co-organized by the Republic of Cyprus and the Delegation of the European Commission in Cyprus, in the presence of the President of the Republic and the European Commissioner for Health and Safety, Stella Kyriakidou, Mr. Petridis expressed "great satisfaction" for the disbursement on Friday of €85 million.
He noted that, for what may be considered an automation to the general public, for him and the officials who experienced it, completing the first payment request of the Republic of Cyprus to the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RMM) was a "painful and stressful process ».
Mr. Petridis said that it is "an optimistic plan", which took a lot of work to prepare, both on the part of the EU and the "small but efficient" civil service of Cyprus, noting that other countries with more resources did not succeed to prepare in such a short period of time, but also such a "successful and effective" recovery plan.
The presentation, he said, shows the scope of that effort.
"We are happy that Cyprus is actively participating in the EU, that it supported ECOFIN with fervor this plan when other countries objected", and that it prepared an effective plan and is implementing it, said Mr. Petridis.
The plan, he added, foresees €1.2 billion. in sponsorships and loans but "very important" is that with them comes a leverage from the private sector with an additional €1 billion.
He noted that there is a plan for 10 disbursements with a time horizon of the end of 2026 and that, after today's disbursement, his Ministry is now working on the second tranche for the end of the year, while of the 18 milestones to be achieved for the second tranche , 4 are pending.
The Finance Minister said the Plan combines grants with reforms, and, referring to the importance of reforms, said "money has never been enough to move a country forward".
A plan that is holistic and endures, he said, reforms also need to be made, as, as he said, it is the reforms that will create resilience.
Mr. Petridis also said that the Plan, with 41% of the funds for the green transition, prepares the country for the new green era.
Referring to the objectives of the Plan, Mr. Petridis said that "how difficult an undertaking it is, can be seen from the fact that 271 milestones and objectives are included", with axes of public health and civil protection (€74,1 million), rapid transition to a Green Economy (€447,6 million), strengthening the Resilience & Competitiveness of the Economy (€422,3 million), towards a Digital Age (€89,4 million), employment, social protection, education and human resources (€172,9 .XNUMX cm).
Mr. Petridis said that the Plan includes more than 35 sponsorship plans with an amount of €400 million and that they concern many groups of beneficiaries, private individuals, small and large businesses, local authorities, and invited the public to find out what plans exist.
In closing, Mr. Petridis said that they will continue the implementation and that it is important for Cyprus to be consistent "in this vision called the EU" and in the political-social project called the EU.
Source: KYPE