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- Ελληνικά
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs Anita Demetriou, received today the Ambassador of Lebanon to Cyprus, Mr Claude El Hajal. The main topic of the meeting was the increased migratory pressures from Lebanon towards Cyprus.
Noting that there is understanding for the difficult political situation prevailing in Lebanon, the Speaker stressed the need to support the friendly country for the implementation of the bilateral readmission agreement with Cyprus, as well as the imperative need for further support from the European Union to Lebanon to curb the departures of irregular migrants from its shores. Demetriou expressed concern about the intensification of migratory pressures due to the favourable weather conditions and the flare-up in the Middle East.
Cyprus, Demetriou said, suffers the continued occupation of its territory by Turkey and has long exceeded its borders, receiving the highest number of irregular migrants per capita among EU Member States. She underlined the urgency of concluding a similar EU-Lebanon agreement, along the lines of the agreement with Egypt, as well as the reassessment of areas of Syria as safe zones and, consequently, the status of Syrians arriving in Cyprus.
The President of the Parliament noted her intention to take concrete actions, within the framework of parliamentary diplomacy, in order to send strong messages, which will lead, as she said, to concrete results, both in terms of cooperation with Lebanon for the joint management of this challenge and in terms of taking more active action at the level of the EU and our European partners.
El Hajal said that both Lebanon and Cyprus are victims of this crisis, suffering disproportionate migratory pressures on their territory. He stressed that it is urgent for the EU to immediately provide more support to Lebanon and for this we rely on the assistance of Cyprus, as an EU member state.
Finally, the importance of intensifying efforts to combat the activities of organised networks of traffickers of irregular migrants was underlined.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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