Migration should be handled centrally by the EU, while all member states should be supported and cooperate so they are ready to address this huge issue, Deputy Minister for Migration Nicolas Ioannides said on Wednesday.
Auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou said Cyprus and Greece were on the front line and thus migration was a burning issue for them, adding that the EU should have a common policy.
Ioannides and Papaconstantinou were speaking on the sidelines of an annual meeting, comprising the heads of the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of the member states of the EU and the European Court of Auditors.
The meeting is organised by Cyprus’ Audit Office on October 16 and 17 in Paphos and is focusing on migration.
In statements to the press, Ioannides said the meeting offered a platform to present their views to a European audience on how migration should be handled.
He said it was preferable that the EU handled it centrally and that the member states were supported, adding that no state could address migration on its own.
The EU migration and asylum pact was a positive development, he said, adding that it should be implemented properly so that individual states were not left to deal with migration on their own, especially small front-line states such as Cyprus.
Replying to questions, Ioannides said the barbed wire along parts of the buffer zone placed to stop migrants front flowing in from the north did not serve its purpose and will be removed.
The auditor-general said migration was a sensitive issue and had both humanitarian and economic aspects.
He added that all EU countries were willing to address the issue, however they were voicing different opinions on some issues and the European Commission was striving to coordinate the effort.
Papaconstantinou said Cyprus and Greece were on the front line, while second-line countries had other priorities or saw things from a different perspective.
“That is why we are in the EU, to have a common policy. This is what we are trying to highlight and this is evident by the discussions we opened on Wednesday,” he added.
Papaconstantinou said that during Wednesday’s session the delegates heard the experience of the European Commission and the audit institutions and that the meeting’s conclusions would be announced on Thursday evening.
