Cyprus is “ready to face the complex challenges related to immigration”, Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides said on Wednesday.
Speaking in Athens following a meeting with Greek Migration Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and his deputy Sofia Voultepsi, he said Cyprus will “always [act] within the framework of international and European law”.
At the meeting, the Cypriot and Greek delegations examined recent developments regarding migration across Europe and reaffirmed the need for “close cooperation” between the two countries on the matter, with the aim of “ensuring best practices in managing the challenges both countries face”.
They also discussed the implementation of the provisions of the European Union’s pact on migration, Greece’s model for managing unaccompanied minors who arrive on its shores, and the need to take advantage of cooperation between the two countries to deal with people smuggling networks.
While in Greece, Ioannides also met the head of the International Organisation for Migration (Iom)’s head of mission in Greece Sanja Celebic Lukovac and the Iom’s regional emergency coordinator Gianluca Rocco.
The Cyprus News Agency said both Lukovac and Rocco “expressed understanding regarding the challenges and concern created by increased migration flows towards Cyprus”, and also described Cyprus as a “model” regarding its voluntary returns of migrants to their countries of origin.
Ioannides thanked them for their support and for their “determination to manage the multiple challenges which are being created”, and also asked for them to mediate “so that Turkey faces its responsibilities, especially in relation to the issue of the arrival of migrants across the Green Line” in Cyprus.
Ioannides’ trip to Athens come after the European Commission’s director-general for migration and home affairs Corina Ullrich said Cyprus has already done “a great deal of work” which “some other member states now need to start” in relation to the EU’s migration pact.
Speaking on the matter of the pact’s text, she said Cyprus is “on a very good path” on six of the pact’s 10 points, but that the remaining four “need a lot of work”.
One of those four points which need work is Cyprus’ border control process, with the island needing to implement health vulnerability checks on incoming migrants to comply with the new regulations.
Additionally, Ullrich said, Cyprus has a “big issue” related to the matter of unaccompanied minors arriving on the island.
To this end, she said the existing facility in Kofinou which houses unaccompanied minors who arrive on the island is “not really suitable in terms of infrastructure”.
She also pointed out Cyprus’ backlog of asylum cases, saying that “this needs to be sorted out because there are too many cases which exceed the absolute maximum limit of 21 months” from the lodging of an application to a decision being made.
“This is about hiring the right people,” she said.
