Cyprus applies to host major EU administrative office

Cyprus is one of three EU member states being considered to host the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), the other two being Bulgaria and Malta.

The EU is seeking to create the centralised office for the administration of EU policy on the status of refugees.

The EASO would be responsible for the administration of EU legislation on the classification and treatment of Refugees within the EU and coordination of the application of EU legislation by EU member states. One of the advantages of basing such an office in Cyprus may be the possibility of influence over the interpretation of EU legislation regarding refugees.

If the Cyprus application to host the seat of EASO is successful, the sort of legislation which would be administrated from within the Cyprus state would include articles such as Council Directive 2005/85/EC, on minimum standards on procedures for granting and withdrawing refugee status, which may allow for the cutting of red tape across EU borders on this matter, and Council Directive 2004/83/EC, another useful tool of legal administration, addressing the form and content of the protection granted to persons classified as stateless or refugees.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commented that “Research by UNHCR has shown that asylum-seekers of similar backgrounds and profiles have widely varying prospects of finding protection in different Member States of the European Union.” It is their hope that such a support office “will help ensure more consistent and better quality asylum decision-making across the European Union”.

Currently refugees in Cyprus come under the jurisdiction of the Asylum Service of the Ministry of the Interior, which replaced the Refugee Authority in 2004. With the creation of EASO the administration of Refugee policy across the EU would come under its jurisdiction.

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.