Returning to the European Commission the €67 million linked to the stalled LNG project will not “derail” this year’s state budget, the government spokesman said on Thursday.

Last week it emerged that Brussels has demanded that Cyprus refund grants worth €67.2 million in connection with the LNG terminal at Vasiliko. Cypriot authorities have a deadline by November 6 to do so.

This has to do to with a number of irregularities flagged by the European Commission relating to the circumstances in which the contract for the LNG project was awarded to a Chinese-led consortium back in December 2019. The project is now in shambles, half-completed after the contractor walked out.

In total, the European Commission had pledged €101 million in grants for the project. The €67.2 million is the amount actually disbursed.

Asked whether returning the €67.2 million would impact public finances, government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said no.

“Certainly it’s no small amount, but it is an amount that was factored into our planning, in drafting the annual state budget. So it won’t derail our planning or the budget.”

On what actions, if any, the government intends to take about the LNG debacle in general, Letymbiotis said only that they are waiting for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (Eppo) to conclude its investigation.

The Eppo is probing the LNG project regarding suspected procurement fraud, misappropriation of EU funds, and corruption.

“Whatever further actions need to be taken by the government…these will be taken,” the spokesman offered.

The attorney-general here has said that Cypriot authorities cannot carry out a criminal investigation in parallel with the Eppo’s. The Eppo must finish its probe first.

Regarding another issue – the €25 million which Cyprus has undertaken to pay toward the Great Sea Interconnector project for this year – Letymbiotis said this amount has been included in the 2025 state budget.

The funds, though allocated, have not been paid out yet.