Cyprus meets 23 milestones to unlock next round of EU funds

The European Commission on Monday endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Cyprus’ fourth payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the central pillar of the European Union’s NextGenerationEU recovery programme.

The request, valued at €75.9 million, was submitted by Cyprus on December 18, 2024.

Following its evaluation, the commission has preliminarily concluded that Cyprus has satisfactorily met all 23 milestones and targets outlined in the Council Implementing Decision for this fifth instalment of funding.

“The payment request supports 11 reforms and 12 investments that will benefit citizens and businesses in Cyprus,” the commission said.

“They prioritise on expanding online government services, improving corporate trust through the introduction of a transparent beneficial ownership registry and digitalise health care services notably in cross-border context,” it added.

Moreover, the reforms and investments will also “simplify the issuance and transfer of title deeds as well as implement digital trade solutions, to ease business transactions”.

Among the flagship initiatives included in this payment request is a reform to improve the supervision of insurance and pension funds.

“Cyprus made the first step by developing and implementing a set of tools for enhancing the supervision of pension funds and insurance companies,” the commission stated.

Another key investment focuses on increasing the supervisory capacity of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

As part of this effort, Cyprus has launched a new digital system to more effectively monitor financial transactions.

This system is directly connected to the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) centralised platform.

The commission has now forwarded its preliminary assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has a period of four weeks to issue its opinion.

The payment to Cyprus can proceed following the EFC’s endorsement and the adoption of a formal payment decision by the commission.

Cyprus’ recovery and resilience plan is made up of a broad array of reforms and investment measures.

The overall plan will be financed through €1.02 billion in grants and an additional €200 million in loans.