Cyprus has made “significant progress” towards joining the Schengen zone in the two years since the current government came to power, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said on Wednesday.
He also said that joining the Schengen zone is “a top political priority for the Republic of Cyprus”.
He made reference to the European Commission’s ‘State of Schengen’ report, which was released to the public on Wednesday afternoon, describing its evaluation of Cyprus as “particularly encouraging”.
However, he said, “the challenges which remain are the thorniest”.
“Our effort was and remains to convince the commission to carry out its final re-evaluation in all areas within this year. Until then, the path will be difficult,” he said, adding that the next six months “require hard work”.
“We have the strategy, we have the plan, we have the determination,” he said, before calling on political forces across Cyprus and its political spectrum for their support in “achieving this national goal”.
“The results show that today we have a very high success rate in terms of the recommendations … We will continue the hard work without many words, keeping a low profile for many different reasons,” he said.
He touched on the matter of irregular migration, saying that to join the Schengen zone, “a basic condition is for the country to significantly improve its performance in terms of external borders and migration management”.
“That is, to be able to properly manage any migration crisis, with extreme scenarios being a criterion for evaluation,” he said.
He added that over the last two years, Cyprus “has proven to the commission and to our partners that secondary migration flows from Cyprus to other European Union member states are almost zero, and this is important.
“We demonstrate every day that Cyprus, as an island state without land borders, does not pose a threat to other member states’ migration flows. On the contrary, Cyprus’ accession will strengthen the European Union itself on its southeastern border,” he said.
He went on to say that since joining the EU in 2004, Cyprus has implemented the core of the Schengen visa code acquis.
“In other words, for 21 years, we have been implementing our general obligations without enjoying the benefits and rights which come with them,” he said.
On this matter, he pointed out that border controls continue to exist between Cyprus and other EU member states, and that Cyprus cannot issue Schengen visas, which allow tourists from third countries the right to visit other EU member states.
Additionally, he noted, third country nationals who hold Cypriot residence permits do not have the right to freely travel within the Schengen zone, as resident permit holders in all other EU member states except for Ireland can.
“The consequences of this are obvious and clearly adverse. The cost is political, it is economic, but of course it also includes the practical inconvenience for our compatriots and those based in Cyprus,” he said.
Joining the Schengen zone, therefore, will, according to Kombos, “facilitate the mobility of tourists, labour, service providers, consumers, and students”.
In addition, he said, streamlined processes for airlines after Cyprus’ joining of the Schengen zone will allow “for the country’s connectivity to be strengthened”.
He added, “it is naturally expected that international trust in Cyprus, will be strengthened, projecting it as a stable and reliable partner, capable of offering a safe, economically viable environment for foreign direct investment and the general development of business activity”.
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