Country Profile: Cyprus

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 112-117

112

4. COUNTRY PROFI LE: CYPRUS

4. 1. Sect ion 1 - National rules for t he evaluat ion of State aid schemes

4.1. 1. Obligation or lack ther eof to evaluate

I n Cyp rus t here are no provi sions for a ge neral obl igat ion to eval uate all public policies,

but, in m any cases, ev aluations do t ake place, par tly following specific po licy initi atives

(e.g. educat ional policy) , part ly follow ing th e ESIF obligations and the monitoring and

evaluation mechanism developed in the context of the Econom ic Adj ustment

Programm e 105.

There are no prov isions for the ex-post ev aluat ion of State aid. The national legislation

only foresees the obligation t o carry out an ex-ante compatibilit y assessment of State

aid schem es based on Laws 30 (I)/ 2001, 122( I )/ 2001, 139(I ) / 2002, 10( I ) / 2003,

80(I)/ 2003, 14 4(I )/ 20 04, 177(I )/2005, 9( I) /2007, 82(I )/ 20 07, 108(I) /2009.

4.1. 2. Procedu res to en force the o bligation

Under the above-mentioned legislation each Competent Author it y is obliged t o notify

any St at e aid measure to the Comm issioner for State aid Control ( see below ) for

app ro val or opi nio n a s ap pro pri ate , w hil e i f n ecessa ry , it s hou ld a lso not ify t he Euro pean

Commission about the measure. No State aid measure m ay ent er int o force in t he

count ry without previou s approval by the Com missioner for State aid Control or t he

European Com mission .

I n t he case th at th e Com mi ssion er beco mes awa re, fo llow ing a c omp lain t or inf orm at ion

from any person, that a St at e aid measure has ent er ed into force without his/ her

app roval or opinion or without pr eviou s not ification of t he m easure to t he European

Com m ission, sh e/ h e may, by a du ly substantiat ed decision publish ed in the Official

Gazet t e of the Repu blic, order the suspension of the measu re, the term inat ion of the

unlawfu lness and t he r ecovery of any grants r eceived in br each of the Law plus the

law ful in terest . Also, t he Comm issioner for State aid Cont rol has th e regulat ory contr ol

ov er t he effecti ve imp lem entation of th e de cision s of t he Europ ean Com mission , in case

recovering unlawf ul State aid is needed.

4.2. Section 2 - Nat ional auth orities responsible for the evaluat ion of State aid

4.2. 1. Nat ional organ isation for State aid

In Cyprus t here are tw o authorities Responsible for St at e aid. I n both cases the

authorities are creat ed to respond to compliance assessm ent s:

− The Office of t he Commissioner for St ate aid Control ( Cent ralised)

− The Directorate General for European Programm es, Coordinat ion and

105 In May 20 13, an Econom ic Ad jus tm ent Progr amm e w as ag reed bet wee n t he Eur ope an Com mi ssion, t he

European Cent ral Bank (ECB), the I nter natio nal Monet ary Fund (IMF) and the Republic of Cyp rus, aiming

to add ress t he financi al, f iscal and stru ctur al ch allen ges f acing th e econ omy and allo w Cyp rus to r etu rn t o

a su stainable growt h pat h. It covers the period 2013 - 2016 . The f inancial package w ill cov er up to €1 0

billion , including €1 billion fr om t he IMF. The key objecti ves and m easures of the Programm e wer e laid

do wn in a Mem or and um of Un der stan din g ( MoU) w ith th e Eur opea n Com m ission (o n b ehal f of th e Eur opea n

Stability Mechanism - ESM) and a Mem orandum Of Econom ic and Finan cial Policies ( MEFP) with t he I MF.

The rev iew of t he im plem en tat ion of t he Progr am me fo llow s a st anda rd pr ocedu re th at t akes pla ce q uart erly

and is app licable to the Memb er States wh ich are su bject to similar progr ams.

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