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After a long week, on Friday, at 1 pm, to have the Attorney General, with more than 20 members of the Legal Service of the Republic, in a room to attend a presentation by our Office on State Aid issues, which has been requested by the Legal Service itself, and this for the first time, means that compliance and adherence to European law, is a matter of paramount interest for the Legal Service and this is extremely important for our Office, as it helps to send the right messages to all Competent Authorities that are called upon to apply State Aid legislation in the granting of State resources to enterprises.
Thank you, Mr. George Savvidis, Attorney General, for adding prestige and value to today's presentation with your presence. I would also like to thank the organizers and especially Ms. Dimitra Kallis for her excellent coordination, Ms. Despina Kyprianou, Head of the Academy of the Legal Service and all of you who are here today as well as the officials of my Office for their presentations.
Before I proceed, however, it is impossible for me not to condemn the criminal actions against officials of the Legal Service and to stress that they are UNACCEPTABLE.
And they are unacceptable because justice is defined as a good that does not aim at the well-being of the one who exercises it, but at the other person and, according to Aristotle, it is the STATE OF THE MERCY, because it is not exercised for one's own benefit but for the sake of a third person.
Justice and State Aid!!!!
State Aid is a multi-dimensional, multi-layered and specialised institutional framework which is constantly evolving, adapting and modernising, through the respective Legislation, the Decisions of the European Commission and the case law of the Community Courts, with the ultimate aim of creating a new modern Europe, which responds to the challenges and dilemmas of modern society.
EU State aid law is an area of law with an ever-increasing practical application and of great interest, since it is a typical example of a key regulatory penetration of EU law into the national legal orders of the Member States for the benefit of market efficiency.
The absolute responsibility of the Republic of Cyprus, through my Office, towards the European Commission is to ensure that this EU State Aid Law is respected.
State Aid Control has been and continues to be the unique feature of the European Union's competition policy - a policy area that can offer lessons that extend beyond the borders of the European Union in the various initiatives aimed at regulating State intervention in the economy at national level.
Therefore, due to the specialised and enlarged field of State Aid, in order to provide effective guidance in the right direction, we favour two-way communication, information, education, consultation and cooperation with all Competent Authorities and with all Independent Authorities as well as with Parliamentary Groups.
The aim of our Office is to exercise control in a positive and constructive way.
We aim at prevention in order not to grant illegal state aid and this is achieved by prior discussion, opinion, documentation and consultation several times with the European Commission in order to avoid the procedure of recovery of illegal state aid.
The objective of our Office is to further create a State Aid culture of all Competent Authorities to ensure the legality of State Aid and at the same time to use all the opportunities and possibilities provided to the Member States through the Legal Framework for compatible State Aid, without distorting competition between Member States, without a measure being selective and creating an advantage to a beneficiary engaged in an economic activity.
Dear Attorney General, Dear Colleagues,
When the President of the European Commission, Ms Ursula Von der Leyen, set the goal in 2019 for a green, digitally upgraded and geopolitically united Europe and implemented state aid modernization by adopting legal frameworks in this direction, it was not believed that this would be 90% achievable.
And yet, it has been achieved!!!
In her speech in September 2023, wanting to emphasize the dynamism of Europe, she stated.
"Let's deliver today and prepare for tomorrow"
This is also the concern of my Office to strengthen our economy with the new proposed legislative frameworks and with the further implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan in the Technical Committee of which we as an Office participate.
This is our concern, to strengthen the Economic Sectors of our National Market, with the new EU objectives of tackling climate change, promoting innovation, effectively promoting the green and digital economy and the circular economy.
It cannot be denied that our Office handles important cases for the economic life of our country as the relevant rules set the legal framework, among others, for important infrastructure projects, programmes and developmental projects in general of the Cypriot economy.
It cannot be denied that our Office handles important cases for the economic life of our country as the relevant rules set the legal framework, among others, for important infrastructure projects, programmes and developmental projects of the Cypriot economy. The interpretation of the rules is of particular importance for the proper formulation and implementation of national support measures for the recovery of the economy as in the current economic crisis that has erupted due to the pandemic caused by the spread of Covid-19.
As an Office we wish to contribute through our area of competence to the programmes and projects of the Competent Authorities for the implementation of the Government's strategic plan for the progress and development of the economy.
In conclusion, I would like to stress and emphasise that the immediate objectives of both myself and my Office are the paramount importance of substantial alignment with the need to avoid long-term harmful effects on competition and the substantial requirement of legal certainty within the Republic of Cyprus.
Thank you again for your interest and I hope that the following presentation will be both enjoyable and useful in carrying out your work.
Our Office remains at the disposal of the Legal Service in any need.
(MΛ)
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