Our goal is to create a balanced and effective framework for competition and state aid, which will protect the integrity of the market, said the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, George Papanastasiou, addressing the annual Conference ‘Cyprus Forum on Competition Policy 2025’, which was organized on Friday in Nicosia under the auspices of the Cyprus Bar Association.
In his address, the Minister noted that ‘ensuring and promoting healthy competition is a guarantee for the proper functioning of markets, but also a prerequisite for attracting investments. Healthy competition is a foundation of every modern and resilient economy, it creates incentives for innovation, improves the quality and choice of products and services and leads to better prices for consumers,’,he pointed out.
In this context, Papanastasiou added, ‘our cooperation with the Commission for the Protection of Competition is long-standing and close, with the common goal of promoting and strengthening competition in the Cypriot market’.
‘On the basis of Community Directive 1 of 2019, we have assigned additional responsibilities to the Commission for the Protection of Competition, ensuring the necessary guarantees of independence and the resources required for the effective implementation of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,’ he said.
Papanastasiou noted that ‘the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry plays a decisive role in creating a fair, transparent and open market framework through policies and initiatives that support competition and transparency at multiple levels, including the liberalization of the energy market and the introduction of a Code of Conduct for retail business offers,’
At the same time, he noted that ‘in view of the upcoming assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the first half of 2026, we are steadily progressing with the preparation of the work programme of the Competition Working Group, always in line with the priorities of the European Commission, as set out in the Single Market Strategy 2025-2030’.
‘Our goal’, he explained, ‘is to shape a balanced and effective framework for competition and state aid, which will protect the integrity of the market, simplify procedures and ensure equal conditions for all at the same time’.
‘This framework will enhance the industrial sector and digital transition, through investments in research, innovation and new technologies,’ he added.
‘To this end, our central objectives include, among others, the modernization of the legislative framework for antitrust and merger control, the revision of regulations on digital markets and foreign subsidies that may distort competition, as well as the legislative response to unjustified territorial supply restrictions,’ he said, adding that ‘the priority of the Competition Working Group is also the revision of the state aid framework and the general block exemption regulation.’
‘Competition law is the foundation of a fair society, where entrepreneurship develops with rules. The market works to the benefit of all and investments flourish in an environment of stability,’ stressed Papanastasiou. ‘Consequently, the protection of competition cannot be perceived as a simple technical regulation of the market, as it is primarily a matter of democracy and social justice, given that the establishment of the rule of law and the protection of free competition are interrelated elements,’ he pointed out.
The Minister also said that ‘the competitive electricity market may not have all the criteria to operate on a sound basis, but it is very important that its development and course go in the right direction, that there is no need for state intervention or to correct things’.
‘And when we say in the right direction, this means that we want electricity to go to its destination – whether it is a consumer or a business or a household – at prices that are related to the cost of electricity production and that there are no distortions in the supply chain,’ he explained, stressing the need for transparency as regards the electricity’s retail price.
Referring to fuels, the Minister of Energy pointed out that ‘we are in a small market in which suppliers are very limited. He spoke of ‘real beneficiaries, who essentially supply this market, and 1-2 refineries through some suppliers,’ noting that this is already being investigated by the Commission for the Protection of Competition.
‘There should be no need for interventions from the Commission for the Protection of Competition, but sometimes these interventions are needed. There are limited companies out there that supply products and provide services, and we need to monitor them very carefully, ‘ he noted.
Referring to acquisitions and mergers, George Papanastasiou said that the Ministry wants ‘to provide incentives for mergers of small and medium-sized companies to take place so that their scope of action grows, that is, they have access to larger markets, perhaps even outside Cyprus. He expressed, hoever, his concern because ‘big organizations come to take over the small ones, to buy in order to get the know-how of each small organization’.
At the same time, the Minister of Energy pointed out that there is a risk of market control, because the organizations that offer either services or products are limited, citing the health sector as an example. Dominant position is not illegal, its abuse is illegal, he noted.