Citizens of the countries in southern Europe do not benefit from the advantages of the “Europe for citizens” Programme as much as citizens of the northern countries do. Greece and Cyprus already have a lot in common: language, history and culture. The SUSTAIN project will use all these common elements, not only in order to further strengthen relations between the Twinning stakeholders of the two countries, but also to create synergies that will help local authorities-and of course citizens- from both countries to participate in the “Europe for citizens” Programme and cooperate with municipalities from the rest of Europe.

The project aims to provide better access to European networks of towns and better projects for the citizens of two peripheral island regions of southern Europe.

Besides all these, the project will create economies of scale, by giving to the municipalities of Chios direct access to Brussels without additional cost, through the Brussels office of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities and to the Cypriot Municipalities the opportunity to develop their own capacities to create and run European projects, without being obliged to buy the knowhow from private consultancies. The result will be a boost to the development of the two regions without additional costs, which in the current economic environment will be highly appreciated by citizens, local officials and elected representatives in the two regions.