The first day of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which was attended by the Minister of Interior Mr.Konstantinos Ioannou, was concluded, during which the Ministers of the 27 Member States had the opportunity to exchange views on the external dimension of migration and the internal management of migration flows.
In his intervention, Mr Ioannou pointed out the dramatic situation in which Cyprus finds itself, indicating that the country's potential for managing the problem has been exhausted. He reiterated that the measures taken should be commensurate with the real pressures that Cyprus is facing as a frontline country, which are disproportionately greater than any other Member State of the Union. In this context, he stressed the need to immediately advance work on the preparation of a specific Action Plan for the Eastern Mediterranean, which would include concrete measures that would have added value and ensure immediate tangible results in terms of reducing flows, taking into account the specificities of the region and the destabilising role of Turkey.
Stressing that the problem is an undeniable result of Turkey's instrumentalisation and targeted promotion of irregular migrants.
