Successful efforts of the Ministry of Interior on migration
The targeted and painstaking efforts made by Cyprus over the last three years to take measures to support and relieve the Republic of Cyprus in the management of migratory flows, as of today, enter a new dimension. In yesterday's declaration, the 27 Interior Ministers, among other things, recognise the particularities that Cyprus is facing and the European Union itself, in practical ways, supports the necessity of creating a Burden Sharing Mechanism with a nominal reference to Cyprus.
More specifically, the statement records that "relocation should primarily benefit Member States facing migrant landings from search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and on the Western Atlantic route and be applied in other cases to take into account the current situation in Cyprus and possible developments on the Greek islands". Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Italy, Spain and Malta, as the frontline member states, are expected to benefit from the solidarity mechanism, under the proposal put forward by the French Presidency, either through the relocation of persons or through the provision of financial and/or logistical support.
At the same time, and despite the reservations expressed by a number of member states, a preliminary agreement has been reached on the Regulations on strengthening the management of the European Union's external borders and preventing irregular migration flows. With this development, an important step has been taken towards reaching the New Common European Asylum and Migration Policy, which will be based on a holistic approach, with equal sharing of responsibilities and solidarity between Member States. In the immediate future, work will culminate in order to reach a conclusion on the various individual issues, such as the definition of the operational implementation of the framework, but also on the determination of the number of persons to be relocated from the frontline Member States.
Equally important for our country, as a result of our continuous efforts, is the report made by the competent European Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, to the Council that she raised the issue of illegal crossings of the Green Line during her recent visit to Turkey, and also held talks with officials from Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are among the countries with the largest number of asylum seekers in the Republic of Cyprus, asking for their cooperation in curbing the phenomenon and strengthening the return procedures for their nationals.
The Ministry of Interior expresses its satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting, the implications of which will be further discussed at the scheduled meeting of the Interior Minister with EU Vice President Margaritis Schinas in Nicosia next Saturday, 17 June.
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