The European Commission has given partial approval to Cyprus’s fifth payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is part of the broader NextGenerationEU initiative. The request, totaling €70.5 million, was assessed after Cyprus submitted it on August 1, 2025.
According to the Commission, Cyprus has satisfactorily completed 10 out of 11 milestones and all eight targets required for this sixth grant instalment. These reforms and investments focus on areas such as public administration, justice, transport, tourism, education, healthcare, and energy efficiency renovations.
Among the highlighted measures are a local administration reform that merges smaller municipalities for improved efficiency and cost reduction. This reform also aims to give local authorities more responsibilities and a modern financial structure to support regional growth and transparency. Additionally, schools in Cyprus have been upgraded with new digital equipment—including laptops, projectors, and digital boards—to enhance learning environments and help students acquire essential digital skills.
However, the Commission found that one milestone related to green taxation (M19) had not been met satisfactorily. As a result, “the Commission will propose a suspension of the payment related to this milestone. Cyprus will then be granted additional time to complete the outstanding milestone, while still receiving a partial payment for the milestones that have been successfully fulfilled.” The Commission noted that “this approach is in line with the RRF Regulation and the Commission’s implementation guidelines published on 21 February 2023.”
The next steps involve sending the positive preliminary assessment of fulfilled milestones to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to provide its opinion. Meanwhile, Cyprus has been informed about why one milestone was considered incomplete and now has one month to submit observations.
If after reviewing these observations the Commission maintains its assessment regarding non-fulfilment of the green taxation milestone, it will suspend part of the payment using its established methodology for payment suspensions—outlined in Annex II of its Communication from February 21, 2023—which applies equally across all EU Member States.
Cyprus would then have six months to address this outstanding commitment. If it does so within this period to the satisfaction of the Commission’s requirements, any suspended payments may be released.
Cyprus’s recovery plan includes various reforms financed by €1.02 billion through EU support.