More European aid will be funnelled to Cyprus to deal with increasing migrant flows, Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said on Wednesday as figures showed the numbers arriving in January this year were 48 per cent higher than the previous one.
Cyprus and Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, will soon sign an action plan for immigration focused on returns, Nouris said after meeting its Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri in Nicosia.
The latest report by Frontex, which compared figures from January 2021 to the same month in 2022, said that the number of migrants arriving in Cyprus “continued to grow”.
“In the first month of 2022, there were 850 detections, 48 per cent higher than last year,” the report said about Cyprus, adding that the most represented nationalities were nationals of Congo (Kinshasa), Syria and Nigeria.
As for the general situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Frontex found the number of illegal border crossings at EU’s external borders in the first month of 2022 reached 13,160, which was 78 per cent more than in January 2021 and 23 per cen% more than in 2020, according to preliminary calculations.
The number of arrivals continues to be above pre-pandemic levels as demonstrated by the data from 2021. The total number of illegal border-crossings in 2021 was just short of 200,000, the highest number since 2017.
According to Nouris, the plan will provide for further Frontex aid for Cyprus, which will entail additional experts in the field of return and data verification for third country nationals.
It also provides for the implementation of regular repatriation flights with full cost recovery from Frontex and technical support for the upgrade and development of migration flow management systems in the field of returns.
Earlier in the day, Leggeri met Justice Minister Stephie Dracou, speaking on a number of issues including border safety and crime.
The justice ministry said that “through a fruitful exchange, [THE OFFICIALS] reaffirmed a common approach in terms of bolstering the protection of Cyprus’ outside borders, which are effectively EU borders, with Frontex support”.
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