The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, suggested to explore with the budgetary authority the possibility of frontloading future MFF assistance for Cyprus, in his letter to reply the letter he received from President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, regarding EU funding for Cyprus. In his letter, Mr Anastasiades suggested that Cyprus might be given increased allocations under both cohesion and rural development policy. However, Mr Barroso replied that no unallocated margin was left in these headings under the European Council approach.

In a reply to the letter of 9 April from President Anastasiades of Cyprus asking for the European Commission's support in finding ways of helping Cyprus at this difficult time of economic and social adjustment, President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has proposed to explore with the budgetary authority the possibility of frontloading future MFF assistance for Cyprus. Mr Barroso also would support a request for the future Youth Employment Initiative extension to Cyprus on an exceptional basis since it has not yet been finalised. On 15th of April, the Eurogroup welcomed the staff-level agreement reached between Cyprus and the Troika.

In his letter, President Barrosso highlighted that he would also propose that Commission's officials develop a more detailed "needs assessment" for Cyprus. He stressed that the situation of Cyprus is now altered and must be reflected in the programming, thus no doubt this will require changes in existing expectations and the redirection of funds. Once they have agreed on such a "needs assessment", they could see how to match all available funds to the needs identified. Mr Barroso does not exclude seeking additional support from the budgetary authority, despite the difficulties currently associated with these matters at EU level.

President Barroso also reiterated the support of the Commission to the people of Cyprus at this difficult time. He reminded that solidarity has always been a byword of the Commission's action and it will be the hallmark of Commission's future work with Cyprus government to help Cyprus restructure and diversify its economy to give new hope to people of better times to come.