Cyprus fighting EU over implementation of €259 million aid to Turkish Cypriots
By Jean Christou
CYPRUS is taking the EU to the European Court of Justice over the way €259 million in aid to the Turkish Cypriots is being implemented.
The Court of Justice is the highest court in the EU and has the ultimate say on matters of EU law.
A spokesman for the EU Commission in Nicosia yesterday confirmed the application by the government had been received.
‘The Commission can confirm an application submitted by the Republic of Cyprus to the Court of Justice concerning the implementation of the aid package to the Turkish Cypriot community,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman did not wish to comment further given that the case is pending legal proceedings.
However it appears the government is unhappy that some of the tenders for the work to be carried out under the aid project involve certain Turkish Cypriot bodies.
Although it is the Commission itself that deals with the tenders for the various projects, which are accepted from companies in all EU member states, the Cyprus government said it also involved Turkish Cypriot ‘state’ organisations.
The government feels that allowing this constitutes an upgrade of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state and violates the spirit of the aid package, which is the development of the Turkish Cypriot community and not the ‘TRNC’.
According to reports yesterday, the letter to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice was sent on February 7. A few days prior to that, Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis had asked the Commission to revise the tenders so that the “institutions of the pseudo state” were not included.
This was not done, the report added.
In February 2006, the European Council approved the €259 million.
package of aid and trade measures to encourage the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community.
Part I of the aid programme committing €38.1 million out of the overall total was approved in October 2006. It focuses on developing physical infrastructure, promoting economic and social development and bringing the Turkish Cypriot closer to the European Union.
Part II committing €197.550.000 was approved in December the same year.
For the implementation of the assistance, the Commission has put in place a Programme Team composed of Commission officials and contract agents working both in Brussels and in Cyprus.
The team uses a Programme Support Office in the northern part of Cyprus to facilitate contacts with the beneficiary community, with a view to ensuring cost-effective coordination, preparation and implementation of the assistance, the Commission said.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008
Does this mean that the north is now upgraded? luv it
shall we bet that when they know they will lose the case it is witdrawn
... if Cyprus has noticed the lying, cheating TCs trying to obtain money by deception .... then it is behaving as a whistle blower.
