EU and Cyprus close to an agreement for support on migration

EU funding for the project in Limnes, infrastructure upgrades at the Pournara reception centre for asylum seekers, establishing a surveillance unit along the buffer zone, and the EU’s new migration and asylum policy, were among the issues discussed Thursday between Interior Minister Nicos Nouris and the European Commission’s Beate Gminder.

Gminder, Deputy Director-General in charge of the ‘Task Force Migration Management’ in the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, said later that the EU and Cyprus are close to an agreement for supporting Cyprus in building a facility at Limnes hosting more asylum seekers in decent and dignified conditions.

For his part, Nouris thanked Gminder for the meeting and said they discussed the financing of various infrastructure projects related to migrants in Cyprus.

In particular, they discussed the funding of the project in Limnes, for which Cyprus has submitted a proposal of €72 million in financial support from the European Commission. Nouris expressed the hope the European Commission would respond positively to the Cypriot request that it cover the entire cost.

Nouris and Gminder – visiting the island – also talked about the EU’s new migration and asylum policy, now being debated under the French presidency of the bloc.

“We are grateful for all the support from the EU,” Nouris said, adding that at the same time “we understand that the crisis in Ukraine has created problems of funding and redistribution of resources.

“We’d like to hope that the redistribution will be such that it will not be an obstacle to providing the required assistance.”