Interior Minister Nicos Nouris gave a review of the work of the Ministry of Interior for the five years (2018-2023) of the government of Nicos Anastasiades.He then answered questions from journalists.
The Minister was first asked about the criticism by the candidate for the post of President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Andreas Mavroyiannis on the migration issue, who referred to its inadequate and sloppy management, with a legacy of more than 33,000 pending asylum applications for the next Government.
The Minister responded that "everyone's positions on migration are well known" and continued: "The specific positions and the attribution to the Government that it has been inadequate in its management of migration are answered by a single transparency, which we have set out with all our actions throughout this period." He added that "what Mavroyiannis fails to acknowledge is that the period to which he makes this particular reference, the flows of migrants to the Republic of Cyprus ranged from 500-1,200 per year. The flows arriving in the Republic of Cyprus today have unfortunately reached 21,000 in 2022 and I hope that they will not be the same in 2023."
Therefore, he noted, "what I expected or continue to expect from someone who is running for the Presidency of the Republic is at least to be objective, to recognize the diversity of that period. At the same time, instead of stating that he opposes measures to stop the inflows - which obviously if they continue and there are no such measures, the flows will continue to be in these numbers - he should realise that it is not possible, despite the fact that we have quadrupled our efficiency, in terms of processing asylum applications, to make a casual reference that the answer to solving the migration problem is to speed up the procedures".
In our assessment, the Minister added, "which is clearly supported by evidence, the answer to managing migration lies in three factors." According to the Minister, the two factors have already made it possible to drastically reduce inflows, and he referred to virtual marriages and virtual students, as well as the very important restriction of maritime flows. There remains, as he underlined, the problem of the Green Line.
He pointed out that the ways of solving the Green Line problem are as solved in all other European countries that maintain external borders, "despite the fact that the Green Line is not our external border". He said it is something that Europe itself has realised that "we have to implement measures drastically, which are well known - physical barriers, surveillance and electronic means - to limit the number of crossings and at the same time continue in the same effective ways of returns so that we reduce outflows."
He added that at the same time a "clear message must be sent to those who exploit these poor people - I am referring to traffickers - with severe prison sentences, which in the Republic of Cyprus legislation provides for up to 12 years in prison".
He noted that strictness should be applied to those who traffic human lives, so that the message is sent to the countries from which they emanate.
He stressed that "the root cause of the problem of migration in Cyprus is well known and goes by the name of Turkey".
He stressed that "in the last 18 months Turkey has systematically changed the demography of migration, and where the first 10 countries among the migrants were mainly Asian countries, they are now sub-Saharan African countries."
He explained that from sub-Saharan Africa obviously migrants can neither swim nor come by boat. "They systematically come through Istanbul airport to occupied Tymbou and are channeled by smugglers through the green line. So since we know the problem and the root cause, the Government is moving in the direction of Turkey, because that is where the problem is," the Minister explained.
He then called on Mr Mavroyiannis, who is critical, to state "whether we should be active in the direction of Turkey in order to limit this problem."
"This is how we perceive it, this is how we manage it and we managed to convince the EU itself of the correctness of our policy, hence the funding we receive to be able to limit these flows," he added.
The Minister was asked whether there has been any progress following the briefing that European partners have received during his mandate on migration, whether there has been any progress following the MED5 meeting in Cyprus and the discussion on the Asylum and Migration Pact. The Minister replied that he considered the progress made "too slow". "There is an important obstacle concerning solidarity between EU member states," he noted.
Each of the countries taking over the Presidency of the EU Council, he added, is trying to overcome specific problems and obstacles, and set an example with the implementation of the voluntary relocation scheme. He explained that it concerns a pilot programme which is being implemented in Cyprus, and said that "yes, there has been interest shown by countries, especially France and Germany, to help on a voluntary basis, however not on a mandatory relocation". "It is something that the Republic of Cyprus claims should be introduced in the new pact," he said.
"These are the most important, if I have to rank them, obstacles that exist in order to arrive at a single European policy. But we are clearly arguing that there should be a single pact on migration and asylum, because we do not want to see the conditions of 2015 being experienced by European countries again."
"Europe should have a single policy on how to deal with it."
"Europe should have a single policy on how to deal with it. Cyprus has taken very concrete initiatives in this direction, because we are a country that has a huge problem. And I have already submitted an informal document last October in which we propose, among other things, a differentiation in the mechanism for submitting asylum applications, so that asylum applications can be examined outside the country of arrival," he said.
He added that he has also recommended that there should be a uniform approach to the issue of punishment of traffickers, so that there are no "caress" penalties in some countries and other penalties in different ones.
He noted that the Interior Ministry has made an amendment to the relevant legislation, which provides for, among other things, imprisonment of up to 12 years. "We want, yes, to have a homogeneity in the way we approach these issues and I want to tell you that there seems to be a positive mood on the part of very many countries. More than half of the countries have responded positively to our proposals. But there is still a debate that needs to be held to differentiate certain things."
He stressed that something that "we strongly support as Cyprus is that it is time for the EU to invest in the countries of origin and not just spend billions on reception." He explained that if we invest in the African countries of the sub-Saharan region and create jobs and a decent living for the people of those countries, then we are sure that many of these people will choose to stay in their country and will not take the road to Europe."
"So this is the time when we need a holistic approach, a different perspective on migration and we as Cyprus have already presented these positions to the Home Affairs Council. "There have been many efforts in the last year from the EU side at the highest level towards the Turkish government. I am simply informing you - as much as I am allowed to say publicly - that there is no response from the Turkish government on this particular issue.
He then appealed "to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots that it should be understood by Turkish Cypriots who may be interested in a Cyprus settlement that allowing these thousands of illegal immigrants to exist and congregate in our occupied areas clearly does not help the possibility of a Cyprus settlement".
"So they will have to decide whether they want to manage these people just to gain significant economic benefits - because this is what is happening in the occupied territories through the so-called university institutions that sell fake student visas - versus the possibility of resolving the Cyprus problem and of course changing the demographics of the population," he said.
"It is the time of responsibility, not only to us but also to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots to take action for our own homeland, for our common homeland that we want to say that we are trying to solve the national problem," he said.
The Minister was asked, further to the figures provided in relation to the Cyprus Investment Programme, during the presentation, showing the rejections made by the Ministry of Interior in recent times, whether these figures were indicative of the rejections that should have been made previously and whether passports were approved inversely in relation to the conditions set.
The Minister declared "Mea Culpa ours" saying that "when the programme started in 2007 it was bare in terms of controls."
"As it has progressed, the controls that have been introduced into the programme have been such that, at least in the latter stages, they have not allowed there to be any question whatsoever. And moreover, neither from the Nicolatos committee, nor from the controls that were carried out in the last stages of the management of the many applications, when the due diligence institution was introduced through the three overseas houses, we had no doubt about the management that these applications received," he said.
Therefore, he said that "if in the early stages of the programme the control mechanisms had been better than they were at the beginning of the non-existence, and afterwards of those that were raised, then yes we might have avoided a lot of problems. But "the old man is old", he said.
"Today we are facing a situation in which the EU is satisfied with the measures we have taken at the end of the investment programme route", he continued. He stated his own assessment that if the programme continued in any way and the regulations that the House of Representatives passed in 2020 were applied, the audit would be sufficient. "Nevertheless, it was determined that the program had to be terminated for reasons we all know," he concluded.
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