Brussels, 27/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - €26.5 million will be earmarked for the Turkish Cypriot community, the European Commission announced on Monday 27 June. These funds will be used mainly to pay for measures for reconciliation and to bring about a climate of confidence. The money will go to, amongst others, civil society organisations, schools, farmers, villages and SMEs. As the commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy put it, this action “confirms the importance the EU continues to place in the Turkish Cypriot community and to the resolution of the Cypriot question”. Štefan Füle went on to state that “the action set in place by the Commission thanks to these new funds is based on reunification, which shows just how much the EU hopes that the negotiations will conclude successfully with a view to the reunification of the island”.
The entire programme of aid in favour of the Turkish Cypriot community stands at €28 million in 2011. An envelope of €1.5 million was approved earlier in the year to finance the EU study bursary programme for the academic year 2011-2012. This Monday's decision is based on the multi-annual aid programme, with a budget of €259 million, for which all contracts were concluded in 2009, with projects extending up to 2012. (O.L./transl.fl)