Christodoulides in Vienna for working dinner

President Nikos Christodoulides is to travel to Vienna on Friday to attend a working dinner for heads of government of various European Union member states.

The dinner was organised by European Council President Charles Michel and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

Alongside Christodoulides, Michel, and Nehammer, representatives of the governments of Denmark, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia will all be in attendance.

Speaking on Thursday evening Christodoulides said the dinner is being held “to discuss, mainly, the strategic agenda of the EU and its next steps”. He added that a “new strategy will have to be defined ahead of the forthcoming European elections on June 9.

“We have specific positions on all major EU issues within the context of our effort to have a stronger voice and role in Brussels, for issues which concern the strategic autonomy of the EU, or migration, or the decision-making process,” he said.

He added, “there are several issues, and they will all be discussed tomorrow.”

Christodoulides’ visit to Austria comes at the tail end of his Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou’s own tour of Europe, during which he has spoken to various EU counterparts about the issue of migration.

Ioannou is due to meet with Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis on Friday as part of the final leg of his tour, which also saw him meet with Danish counterpart Kaare Dybvad Bek and Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

In addition, the meeting comes days after the European parliament approved a 10-point redesign of the bloc’s migration system – a move which Ioannou described as a “step in the right direction”.

At the same time, he noted that there is still progress to be made to satisfy him and the government, saying “our request remains that the relocation of asylum seekers is mandatory and not voluntary.”

He has also been fervent in his campaign to have parts of Syria declared safe, and has seemingly won allies on the continent on this matter.

On Thursday, Vit Rakusan agreed to organise between Cyprus and the Czech Republic a joint factfinding mission to Syria, with the aim of designating parts of the country as safe.

Kaare Dybvad Bek said on Wednesday that “the time has come to examine the real facts in Syria to allow states to carry out returns under specific and strict conditions,” while also saying he recognises the “enormous pressure on Cyprus due to the massive flows of migrants of Syrian origin.”

Should the matter of Syria be raised at Christodoulides’ working dinner on Friday, he will have an ally in the host, too, with the Austrian government having earlier thrown its weight behind the plan.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, a spokesperson for the Austrian interior ministry said Minister Gerhard Karner had told the European Union’s justice and affairs council that “deportations to safe areas in Syria should be possible again in the medium term.”