State Aid Control Commissioner Stella Michaelidou has said she is waiting for a traditional halloumi cheese marketing and production support plan from the Ministry of Agriculture, adding at the same time that she has been assured that it has received the Cabinet’s approval and is drafting the plan in order to submit it to her office. In statements on Tuesday after having taken part in a parliamentary committee on agriculture where matters to do with trading halloumi as a protected designation of origin product as well as measures in support of producers were discussed, Michaelidou also said that once the plan has been received, her office will submit it to the European Commission for approval. She added that the plan is expected to be approved within one or two months from the date the Ministry sends it, depending on the questions that will arise. The State Aid Control Commissioner said that during the committee meeting she explained the provisions of the temporary framework of crisis and transition which is in force since March 9, 2023 and that all relevant authorities have been notified about it. The framework will be used as the legal basis of the support plan for the marketing and production of halloumi. “As things stand as far as halloumi is concerned, we are waiting for the submission of the plan from the Ministry of Agriculture, so that it may in turn be submitted by us to the European Commission on the basis of the temporary framework of crisis and transition,” she pointed out.
Source: Cyprus News Agency