EC decision on CY rescue loan delayed again

THE E.U. Commission has again postponed giving the government the nod to guarantee a multi-million pound loan to state carrier Cyprus Airways, airline chairman Lazaros Savvides said yesterday.

Last year, the government applied for the loan, which is contingent on making the ailing airline a viable business concern at long last.

One of the issues previously holding up the decision was to do with the sale of CY’s charter firm Eurocypria to the Cyprus government.

Government subsidies to airlines are strictly forbidden under EU law.
But Savvides told the Mail yesterday that CY had in the meantime not received any “negative feedback on this,” which might suggest the sale of Eurocypria was no longer a stumbling block.

Rather, the delay was due to the fact the matter was not brought up before the European Commission College of Commissioners, the relevant body.

“From our information, the issue was not on the agenda today [yesterday],” Savvides said.
A next tentative date of March 7 was set for the college, he added.
CY is seeking a loan of £58 million or 70 million euros to help finance the restructuring plan it began last year. The loan would be guaranteed by the Cyprus government, the major stakeholder in CY but not without the permission of Brussels.
The £58 million loan would be used to also pay back an earlier short-term loan of £30 million out of the approved sum.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.