EU Helping Turkish Cypriot Community Prepare For Cyprus Reunification

The European Commission approvedMonday  €26.5 million of funding for the Turkish Cypriot community. These funds will focus on measures to promote reconciliation and confidence building. Beneficiaries will include civil society organisations, schools, farmers, villages, SMEs.

Commenting on the decision, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle said, “These 26,5 million euro demonstrate the continued commitment of the EU to the Turkish Cypriot community and to a Cyprus settlement. The activities implemented by the Commission with this fresh funding are reunification-driven, underlining the EU’s expectations for a successful end of the talks towards reunification of the island.”

The whole Aid Programme for Turkish Cypriot community will total €28 million in 2011. €1.5 million has already been approved earlier this year to fund the EU Scholarship Programme for the academic year 2011/2012.

Today’s decision builds on the earlier €259 million multiannual aid programme. This programme was fully contracted by 2009, with projects running until 2012.