Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure CY-2022-22/2821 – measures in Cyprus
Country | Cyprus , applies nationwide |
Time period | Open ended, started on 27 May 2022 |
Context | War in Ukraine |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Responses to inflation
– Support for energy bills |
Author | Loucas Antoniou (INEK) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 09 September 2022 (updated 05 October 2022) |
The aim of the package is to support household consumers, the vulnerable groups of consumers and businesses to cope with the one going increases of electricity production as a consequence of the increasing of the energy raw materials and the war in Ukraine. The package is included among the measures taken by the Cabinet on 27 May 2022 to confront the inflation and the increasing of prices of essential goods.
The supporting energy package consist of the following measures:
Currently, there is no an estimation of the number of people/consumers and companies that are benefited by the measures of the electricity support package.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers | Applies to all businesses | Applies to all citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
|
European Funds
National funds |
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | No involvement | No involvement |
Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The designing of the measures of the package has been performed among the members of the Cabinet and no social partner or political party has been invited to participate in any kind of consultation. Similarly, social partners and political parties have no involvement in the implementation of neither measure of the package.
On 22 June 2022, the Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) said that citizens pay the cost for the inaction and the wrong decisions of the government and the purchase of greenhouse pollutants, which are distributed in the electricity bills of the citizens with a levied VAT. EDEK suggests ceilings in electricity prices and the reduction of the VAT rate to 5% and only on the consumption part of electricity bills. Additionally, the Reference of the bill by the President provoked the reaction of the major opposition party. The General Secretary of the ‘Progressive Party of Working People’ (AKEL) on 1 August 2022 said that the ‘referral of the President is a challenge for the society and workers. He also said that the President and the ruling party easily pass bills for the support of the large businesses and economic interests and refuse to demand measures from the EU for the support of the workers and SMEs. Similarly, the Democratic Party (1 August 2022) said that the decision of the President ‘deprives citizens of the immediate relief they would have had from the unbearable cost of electricity… Unfortunately, the government does not seem to understand either the magnitude of the problems faced by citizens or society's need for immediate relief measures’.
Citation
Eurofound (2022), Electricity support package for citizens and businesses, measure CY-2022-22/2821 (measures in Cyprus), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/CY-2022-22_2821.html
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