The big problem we face is the influx of migrants, which so far this year is 21.000, with 95% of these people coming from the Green Line, said Interior Minister, Nikos Nouris, stressing that Turkey is supplying us with migrants through the occupied territories and of course there should be consequences for this action.
At the same time, Mr. Nouris noted that Europe has marked us as champions, for 2022, in migrant returns. "We have returned 7100 migrants and we are by far the country with the highest number of returns because we have just structured a very efficient return system, he said.
Regarding the processing of applications for political asylum, Nouris said that in 2020 the Interior Ministry processed about 4,000 asylum applications and with the implementation of the fast-track procedure from 1 January 2021 16 were processed.500. Nouris, when asked about the migration problem and the incidents at the "Pournara" accommodation centre, said that migration is an issue that has taken on a European and global dimension and just recently, two days ago, a new discussion took place at the Council of Interior Ministers in Brussels, discussing, among other things, the issue of the instrumentalisation of migrants and migration from third countries.
In our case, Mr. Nouris continued, the perpetrator is Turkey and of course we are very interested in the adoption by the European Parliament of the relevant regulation, which the Czech Presidency forwarded to COREPER.
He noted that, unfortunately, a small number of states made sure to express reservations regarding the importance of this regulation, thus preventing it from being submitted to the European Parliament. "We will continue this effort with the Swedish Presidency and we will convince the four countries that had a different opinion," the minister said.
He said that this regulation will, among other things, send a message to those countries, especially Turkey, that they cannot be left out of the loop when they instrumentalise migration to the detriment of other countries, as in the case of Cyprus. Turkey, he added, is feeding us migrants through the occupied territories and of course there should be consequences for this action.
Asked about the proposal of presidential candidates for faster processing of political asylum applications, Mr. Nouris said that with all due respect to the candidates, they are not properly informed possibly or they are simply positioning themselves in this particular way, in the absence of other arguments. I want to be clear, Mr Nouris said: Europe has designated us as champions, for 2022, in terms of migrant returns. "We have returned 7100 migrants and we are by far the country with the highest number of returns, precisely because we have structured a very efficient return system," he said.
The big problem we face is the inflows, which so far this year is 21.000, with 95% of these people coming from the Green Line, he said.
Regarding the processing of applications, Mr. Nouris said that in 2020 the Ministry of Interior processed about 4,000 asylum applications and with the implementation of the accelerated procedure from 1 January 2021, 16,500 were processed. He noted that "everything I hear about the fast-track procedure is far from reality."
The problem, he continued, which concerns the whole of Europe, is that there are no return agreements with many third countries. Regarding border guards, Nouris noted that the number of applications has exceeded 420 and the aim is to recruit 300 in the first phase. Our hope, the Minister said, is that within the first months of 2023 these border guards will be recruited.
On the Cyprus Tomorrow Plan and the Recovery Fund he said that it is the most important legacy we leave to any government. It is a plan, he continued, which will enable very concrete reform efforts and projects which will completely change Cyprus along with everything we have already done. The Interior Ministry, he said, has the responsibility for a very large number of such actions, being the largest ministry.
"We have 8 specific actions, with the local government reform being the main one, but other very important actions follow, such as the digitisation of cultural heritage, the reduction of unpublished property titles in the land registry," the Interior Minister said.
He added that a very important action is the student housing project "so that by 2025, in the walled city of Nicosia, with an expenditure of 15 million, which is the sponsorship of the project, we will have 560 units of student halls of residence."
We can hope that our Cyprus will be even better with this particular, very ambitious project which we are already implementing, he stressed.
Source: CNA
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