An EU-backed entrepreneurship scheme in Cyprus is expected to support the creation of around 800 new businesses and more than 1,600 jobs, as the island continues to channel cohesion-policy funding into business development, research, transport and urban projects.

The figures were emphasised by Themis Christophidou, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, during the Cyprus Forum 2026 in Nicosia.

However, official funding data show that the projected 800 businesses and 1,600 jobs relate to the full €50 million New Entrepreneurship Activity Scheme, rather than the €30m allocation alone.

According to the official THALIA 2021–2027 programme, the scheme was split into two calls: €30m launched in 2021 and a further €20m in 2024. The programme estimates that the combined funding will generate 800 new businesses and more than 1,600 jobs.

The scheme is co-financed through EU cohesion funds and the Republic of Cyprus and is aimed at encouraging new, sustainable and competitive businesses, with particular emphasis on young people and women. Funding can cover expenditure including equipment, premises, renovations and promotion.

Christophidou also set out a broader range of cohesion-policy investments currently being implemented in Cyprus, including €13m for engineering research laboratory facilities at the University of Cyprus.

Further funding includes almost €3m for the restoration of three historic municipal buildings in Limassol, €2m for Salina Municipal Park in Larnaca and €44m for public passenger transport infrastructure and the transition towards electric mobility.

Nearly €2m has also been invested in the Evagoras integrated information system, designed to expand digital services provided by municipalities. The EU funds portal puts the project’s overall budget at €2.9m, with an EU contribution of 60 per cent.

Christophidou also referred to the European Commission’s developing “Right to Stay” strategy, which seeks to address the economic and demographic pressures pushing people, particularly younger and skilled workers, away from rural, remote and declining regions.

The initiative focuses on the conditions needed for people to remain in their home regions by improving access to jobs, housing, education, public services, transport and digital connectivity. Christophidou has previously described it as a response to territorial disparities that leave some Europeans feeling they have little choice but to move elsewhere.

The issue has already featured prominently during Cyprus’ EU Council presidency. Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said earlier this year that more than 60m EU citizens lived in regions where GDP per capita in 2023 was below its 2000 level, arguing that cohesion policy would remain central to tackling widening regional disparities.

The Commission’s strategy is expected to feed into the debate over the EU’s next long-term budget for 2028– 2034, with cohesion funding increasingly being linked to competitiveness, employment, connectivity and the ability of regions to retain people and investment.