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Economy
Although the EU-IMF assistance programme is largely on track, President Barroso said that risks remain, and urged the government to keep up its reform efforts.
During a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, he reminded the government of the EU funding and technical assistance available to Cyprus. "The extra €200 million agreed as part of the future EU budget will help Cyprus invest in energy efficiency, support SMEs and create jobs, including by contributing to funding for a youth guarantee", President Barroso said.
He also "strongly" urged the Cypriot authorities to take advantage of the technical assistance provided by the Cyprus Support Group, which was set up earlier this year to help ease the social effects of the crisis and nurture new sources of growth. "I would like to assure the Cypriot authorities and the Cypriot people that the Commission stands behind you, ready to support you, as you seek to put the economy back on a more solid footing", he said.
The President was speaking after a meeting between the college of commissioners and several members of the Cypriot government. He also met bilaterally with President Anastasiades. The meetings covered a number of issues, including energy and the Cyprus settlement issue.
Energy
On energy, the President said he was confident that the recent discovery of gas reserves would contribute to economic growth and improve the security of energy supply for Cyprus and the EU, but stressed "the need to carry out a proper impact analysis for the investments to be made".
Mitigated results for the Bank of Cyprus in the first half of 2013
On 26 November, the Bank of Cyprus published its financial results for the period January to June 2013. It emerges that it has lost €1.8 billion. This loss has been caused in part by major provisions to liquidate its operations in Greece and to pay back unprofitable loans. Since March 2013, Cyprus has undertaken a great deal of restructuring as part of an international aid programme on the part of the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank.
Bank of Cyprus Financial Results