Press Releases

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

The 4^th Ministerial Summit of the five frontline Member States of the Med 5 responsible for Migration, was concluded today.

I would like to thank my fellow ministers for the constructive spirit of common understanding in which we have handled the crucial issues and challenges before us.

• In these two days, we assessed the progress in the work on the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum in view of the forthcoming meeting of the Ministers of Interior next week in Luxembourg.
• The five countries have today reaffirmed our position on the need for effective protection of the external borders of the European Union, including the green line which, although not an external border of the Republic of Cyprus, unfortunately is the crossing point for 94 % of irregular migrants from our occupied territories.
• In addition, the issue of the instrumentalization of migrants from third countries was discussed and the meeting confirmed its position, as it was expressed in our previous interventions and, in particular, with the adoption of a Regulation on the subject, which the Czech Presidency promoted with the contribution of my friend, the Minister of the Interior, Vit Rakusan, whom I warmly thank.
• At the same time, today’s discussion has once again highlighted the concern of all of us about the increasing migratory flows, to which the refugee flows from Ukraine are now added. In Cyprus, the applications for temporary protection by Ukrainian refugees alone, already reached 16788, while 14152 such permits have already been examined and granted. However, it is noteworthy that a total of 53589 Ukrainians arrived in small Cyprus, out of which 39437 have already returned to their country.
• If the 16705 asylum seekers who arrived in Cyprus in 2022 are added to these figures, the government’s reasoning for taking effective deterrence measures on the green line is immediately understood.
• With regard to the need to show solidarity with the Member States, the Med5 reaffirmed our position that it is imperative to implement an effective mechanism of compulsory solidarity in order to respond to the needs and disproportionate pressures that our countries are currently facing. The Med 5 are persistent with this position as they deem that the implementation of solidarity on a voluntary basis cannot make an effective contribution, particularly to frontline Member States.
• Nevertheless, we can only welcome the initiative of Germany and France, which offered the Republic of Cyprus the possibility of relocating at least 500 migrants to each of the two countries by the end of the year, with the prospect of this number gradually reaching 1500, always to each of these two countries.

• We also welcome the continuing practical expression of solidarity by the Vatican for the relocation of a number of migrants as well as similar initiatives towards the Republic of Cyprus by Romania and Bulgaria.
• Also, worth noting is the sensitivity of the Swiss Government, which is assisting the Asylum Service of the Ministry of the Interior with the amount of 10 million euros based on the relevant agreement signed between the co-competent Ministers in Bern on 31 October.
• We would also like to express our thanks to the Czech Republic for the kind gesture of granting financial assistance amounting to 1 million Euros to support the efforts of the Ministry of Interior Returns Office.
• A Returns Office that, under extremely difficult conditions, managed to return, in the course of this year, almost 5000 irregular migrants to their countries of origin, placing Cyprus in the1^st place among the EU Member States in proportion to its population and in the2^nd place in real numbers, as regards returns.
• I would like to express my satisfaction for the inclusion in the joint communiqué, of the recommendation of Cyprus on the need for an urgent reassessment of those third countries that are currently classified as unsafe and are the source of the largest migratory flows to Europe in order to put an end to the exploitation of asylum systems by those who do not really need them.
• To us, the adoption of preventive policies must rank high among the EU’s priorities. It is for this reason that we believe that consideration should also be given to the possibility of modifying the asylum application mechanism so that asylum applications can be filed outside the EU, either in the countries of origin or countries of transit of migrants and in any case, before they arrive on European territory, a position which I intend to submit at the forthcoming Council in Luxembourg.

I would like to express my thanks to my fellow Ministers and their colleagues for their presence here.

Many thanks to my colleagues and especially to the Press and Information Office for their professionalism and the excellent organization of the meeting. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

(EF/EK/IK)