European ministers offer migrant support for Cyprus

Cyprus’ ongoing migration issues were outlined by Interior Minister Nicos Nouris in Slovenia on Friday during a meeting with several of his European counterparts.

During the discussions, Nouris said the island is currently struggling to contain the ever-increasing flow of migrants arriving illegally in the country.

More specifically, during a bilateral talk with Switzerland’s Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter, Nouris said there is an urgent need to improve reception and accommodation infrastructures for migrants in Cyprus, as well as to upgrade the asylum service’s technological equipment.

In response, Keller-Sutter expressed her willingness to support the island by granting financial assistance amounting to a total of €9.3m, to be used for the acquisition of new equipment for the asylum service and the creation of a new reception centre for migrants.

“The increasing flow of migrants and asylum seekers paired with the inability to return them to their countries of origin are major problems for Cyprus,” Nouris said.

Germany’s Parliamentary State Secretary for the Interior Stephan Mayer promised he would look into organising chartered flights from Germany that would pick up the asylum seekers and the migrants in Cyprus and fly them back to their countries, in a show of solidarity to relieve some pressure off the island’s shoulders.

Finally, Nouris also had separate meetings with the interior ministers of Slovenia and Greece Ales Hojs and Notis Mitarachi, with whom he discussed ideas within the framework of the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum on new approaches to migration in the bloc.