Cyprus joins appeal for help on immigration

CYPRUS HAS joined forces with three other EU Mediterranean countries to bring the issue of immigration and burden-sharing to the forefront of the EU agenda.

High ranking officials from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta gathered in Nicosia yesterday to draft a common paper regarding the challenges they face in the area of migration and asylum.

The paper is expected to be adopted at ministerial level, when the Interior Ministers of all four countries will gather in Rome next month.

Addressing the meeting, Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said that EU Mediterranean countries were the ones feeling the strain as regards the great numbers of asylum seekers.

Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Italy are calling for greater solidarity and burden-sharing from other EU member states on the resettlement of refugees, he said.

The minister noted that he would stress the lack of government control over its external frontiers on its north and northeast coasts as a result of the Turkish invasion.

The four EU countries will also seek more effective action from FRONTEX, the EU agency, which was created as a specialised and independent body, tasked to co-ordinate the operational co-operation between Member States in the field of border security.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.