Programming Documents

The Partnership Agreement (PA) constitutes the strategic programming document that includes the general development priorities of the country and the pursuit general objectives for the use of the Funds of:

• Cohesion Policy,
• Common Agricultural Policy, and
• Common Fisheries Policy.

The PA aims at securing the synergy and coordination between the Funds supporting the Cohesion Policy (Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund), the Common Agricultural Policy (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) and the Common Fisheries Policy (European Maritime and Fisheries Fund) of the EU, so as to achieve effective results that will contribute to the goals of the EU 2020 strategy and, consequently, to growth and job creation in Cyprus. The Cyprus PA sets out its funding priorities under the ESIF for the 2014-2020 period, as derived from the analysis of the country’s development needs and perspectives, as well as the thematic objectives that Cyprus selected to invest into during the 2014-2020 period.

The strategic objective of the PA is the restructuring of the economy, the preservation and creation of new jobs and safeguarding of social cohesion. This objective will be attained through the following three key priorities:

• Supporting the restructuring and strengthening the competitiveness of Cyprus economy,
• Upgrading human resources, promoting employment and social cohesion, and
• Protecting the environment and promoting the efficient use of resources.

At the same time, the promotion of sustainable local development constitutes a horizontal priority. 

The Partnership Agreement was approved by a European Commission’s Implementing Decision on 20th June 2014, followed by an amending decision on 30th September 2014.

On 16 November 2017, the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development (DG EPCD) submitted a revised Partnership Agreement to the European Commission, due to the additional resources that Cyprus received from the Cohesion Policy Funds for the period 2017–2020. The modification of the Partnership Agreement was approved by the European Commission on 7 December 2017.