The European Commission has announced the reprogramming of a plan that will help promote growth in Cyprus and strengthen the impact of EU regional funds there. In particular, it will redirect €21 million worth of Regional Funds to help the country deal with the current socio-economic crisis and ensure a quicker delivery of available investments particularly when it comes to supporting small and medium sized business and the employment of young people.

The decision to redirect €21 million worth of Regional Funds adopted by the European Commission is intended to help the country deal with the current socio-economic crisis and ensure a quicker delivery of available investments. According to the Commission, the decision will see funds from lesser performing regional policy areas being redirected to where the funds are likely to have more impact for growth and jobs in the shorter term. Recently, the Eurogroup welcomed the staff-level agreement reached between Cyprus and the Troika.

The Commission announced that some €11 million worth of funds will be reallocated to build on projects for SMEs (€8.5 million) and for measures to promote youth entrepreneurship (€2.5 million). A further €10 million will be moved to projects for the regeneration of urban and rural areas.

The revision was requested by Cyprus earlier this year and has been given added political momentum in the last few weeks. The Commission highlights that the decision to shift funds from one area to another is mainly due to the deterioration of socio-economic conditions in Cyprus in recent months, but it also aims to compensate for the slower progress of implementation in some areas of investment.