NGO criticises creation of deputy ministry for migration

Parliament’s passing of a bill to create a deputy ministry for migration was met with dissatisfaction by non-governmental organisation Kisa’s executive director, Doros Polykarpou, on Friday.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail he described the creation of such a deputy ministry as “constitutionally questionable,” asking “where does political power lie in terms of government with such a thing?”

“According to our constitution, we have a cabinet which is attended by ministers, and ministers vote on matters of government policy. Deputy ministers are not ministers, they do not have voting power at cabinet,” he said.

He added, “in this case, if there is a matter regarding migration which needs to be brought up at cabinet, who brings it up? Who represents these issues at cabinet? The answer is they end up not being represented at all.

“A deputy minister has neither a voice nor a vote,” he said.

He also made reference to existing deputy ministries, saying “look at the social welfare deputy ministry. Did anything change for the better when that was created? Did things improve for social insurance, for welfare payments, for access to state benefits?

“Did the creation of that deputy ministry make the government more productive? If anything, it made things worse and it slowed processes down, if it changed anything at all,” he said.

Problems regarding productivity and the potential consequences of a deputy ministry for migration could also extend to a European level, he said.

He asked whether Cyprus would now send two representatives, its interior minister and its deputy minister for migration, to European Union summits regarding home affairs and migration.

He added that in the event, as he believes is possible, the existence of deputy ministries is ever ruled unconstitutional in court, “all the decisions made by a deputy ministry for migration would therefore be declared null and void.”

“We would end up retroactively with decisions rendered illegal as they would have been taken by an institution, by a person in a role which legally should not have existed,” he said.

Asked what should have been done, he said the government should have created new general directorates or departments under the existing interior ministry.

“They must be answerable to a ministry and a minister. That is how our constitution and our government works. The minister then brings those matters to cabinet,” he said.

He added, “if they really wanted to, they could create a general directorate for deporting immigrants, as is their constitutional right, so long as it be answerable to a ministry. This is where it is illegal, and this is where the problems lie,” he said.

“Really, this deputy ministry was created for internal consumption. People want to see the government taking action on the issue of migration, and this is what they have come up with. It is not a creation which will be productive, useful, or legal,” he said.

Polykarpou’s pessimism was not shared by political parties, with Diko describing the deputy ministry’s passage through parliament as an “extremely positive development”.

“This strengthens even more the already proven efficiency and progress achieved by the Christodoulides government in the management of migration,” they added, saying that suggestions made by their party to the government are “bearing fruit”.

Edek too, said they “welcome” the law’s passing and described it as a “positive development”.

MPs were generally welcoming of the deputy ministry’s creation during Thursday night’s debate, though some were keen to pick holes in the suggestion that reductions in the number of migrants arriving in Cyprus had come about due to government policy.

Disy MP Rita Theodorou Superman said the reduction had come about “not due to measures taken by the government, but due to measures taken in the north with the reduction of students coming from Africa and checks carried out at Istanbul airport in cooperation with the EU.”

However, Akel MP Marina Nicolaou described the migration deal struck between the EU and Turkey as “immoral” and said the “wilful inaction” it entailed had led to the rise of the far right.

Elam MP Sotiris Ioannou said, “much more needs to be done to solve the problem” and that “Elam will continue to tell the truth it has been telling for years. Only when Cyprus stops being an attractive destination for immigrants will the problem be solved.”