CYPRIOT citizens paid over £1 billion for harmonisation, without any help from the European Union, the House Commerce Committee heard yesterday.
Committee chairman Lefteris Christoforou noted that professional groups were paying the cost of harmonisation without help from the government while a request to set up a special harmonisation fund had been shelved.
Commerce and Industry Minister George Lillikas conceded that the public had paid over £1 billion without any help from the EU, but blamed the previous government for refusing to seek funds from the EU during its harmonisation negotiations.
The minister said any support now would have to come from state funds.
However, he also pointed out that many businesses had not prepared in time for accession.
In the case of meat packagers, the harmonisation program should have started as far back as 1995 because various certificates had to be obtained.
“They started too late,” Lillikas said.
He added the government had succeeded in keeping the majority of such businesses working, going as far as bending the law in order for them to secure town planning permits for their buildings.
A kind of ‘unofficial’ permit was given until everything else was in order for the proper one to be issued.
The minister said the state subsidised up to 30 per cent of the total investment for small and medium businesses and also footed part of the cost for selected industries to implement HACCP.
But according to hoteliers, the cost of bringing a hotel’s kitchen into line with HACCP rules could be £50,000 to £60,000, while the government only gave £1,500.
But apart from the consequences, Lillikas said EU accession created new prospects for Cyprus in the form of new markets.
“Soon we will submit a proposal to open new trade centres in new markets,” the minister said.
The general secretary of the chamber of commerce and industry, Panayiotis Loizides, pointed out that businesses should be helped in order to develop and in turn help society.
He said emphasis should be put on development technology and innovation, adding that time-consuming bureaucratic procedures should be simplified for Cypriot businesses to survive the intensifying competition.
“It takes years to set up an industry,” Loizides said.
He added that the island’s tourist product should be upgraded and Cyprus should be promoted as a business and service-providing centre.
The minister told the committee that a preliminary decision had been taken to set a national competition and productivity council while a specific strategy was in its final stages to turn Cyprus into a bridge between the EU and the Middle East.
Lillikas reiterated that the government had no intention of imposing new taxes but was planning to cut spending on programmes that did not affect society.
