The Government has adopted an action plan for the holistic treatment of the increasing migratory flows, said the Minister of Interior, Nikos Nouris, after the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
"The dramatic increase in illegal immigration in Cyprus, but also the increase in the number of asylum applications, especially in recent months - and to make a special reference to the last week since the day of the problems at the Greek-Turkish border - with the number now exceeding 33.000 and reaching 3,8% of the total population of the Republic, makes the effective management of the immigration issue of major importance for the Republic of Cyprus ", said the Minister.
Within the framework of the above Action Plan, the Council of Ministers decided the following measures:
- Shortening asylum application times by more than doubling the number of asylum seekers from next month to 69 from 32.
- Amendment of the Legislations, so that the deadlines for the right to appeal to the Court are reduced.
- Compilation of a list of safe countries in order to distinguish between manifestly unfounded applications.
- An application concerning a country of origin included in the List of Safe Countries will be characterized as manifestly unfounded and will be processed expeditiously within 10 days.
- Promotion of the simultaneous issuance of an expulsion order for those manifestly unfounded applications that are rightfully rejected by the applicant for appeal to the Court within 3 days.
- To combat the phenomenon of fictitious marriages, immediate amendment of relevant legislation, with the introduction of severe penalties for offenders.
- From the next academic period, strict criteria will be introduced for the enrollment of third-country nationals in private colleges, in order to put an end to the phenomenon of virtual students, while the imposition of severe sanctions on offenders is also promoted.
- Formation, as soon as possible, by the State, of organized reception and housing areas, with the consequence of the differentiation of the allowance policy.
- Creation of a new Closed Press Center, with a capacity of 600 people in which the applicants will be accommodated until the completion of the asylum application process.
- Reopening of the entire detention center in Menogia. There is a wing that was closed and will reopen.
- In cooperation with the Local Government Authorities, an audit begins for the illegal residence of immigrants in unsuitable premises.
- Strengthen controls to combat illegal work.
- Immediate implementation of the framework of action agreed with the EU, in November 2019, within which it is decided to create a Single Returns Agency.
- Strengthen the measures of monitoring the ceasefire line and increase the patrols by men of the Police and the Army to strengthen the public sense of security.
- The Minister of the Interior is authorized to intensify his contacts with the European Agency FRONTEX, in order to strengthen our cooperation both in matters of returns and in matters of restricting the flows of irregular migrants both by land and by sea.
- Immediate forwarding of a request to the European Commission, which has already been forwarded by the President of the Republic, for financial assistance for the period 2020-2021, in order to enable the creation of appropriate infrastructure for the hospitality and reception of the increased number of immigrants, to cover the required operational and administrative costs, but also to provide equipment for the surveillance of the coastline and the dividing line ".
Asked whether the construction sector and the Investment Program have been affected by this crisis, the Minister said that "as far as the Investment Program is concerned, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a large number of applications and we are considering this number which is a consequence of submission of applications and before the introduction of the last criteria and immediately thereafter. Therefore, at the moment we have no other indications regarding the Investment Program ".
Asked if all the above measures have been taken with the consent of the Attorney General, Mr. Nouris said that "two extremely constructive meetings have taken place with the Attorney General, last Friday and today in the presence of the President of the Republic, and Specific issues of the legislation have been clarified in relation to the suggestions that the Ministry of Interior has submitted to it and after the suggestions of the Attorney General, the corresponding amendments will be made, which, however, provide a way out of the series of problems we have faced so far. I have already said that, for example, there is an abbreviation of specific times with deadlines that I have announced and that are the result of the discussion with the Attorney General ".
Asked about the equipment he referred to, the Minister said that "it concerns all kinds of logistical infrastructure needed to be able to monitor both the ceasefire line and the coastline of Cyprus for the entry of illegal immigrants either by land or by of the sea ".
When asked if the equipment concerns, for example, boats or vehicles, the Minister answered in the affirmative.
Readiness in case of its spread Covid-19
Asked if the Civil Defense is ready to intervene in the event of the spread of the coronavirus in Cyprus and if there is a relevant plan, Mr. Nouris said that "there is a plan. The Services of the Ministry of Interior are on full alert all this time and will certainly continue to be, including the Civil Defense, which is currently in charge and is very much spent on immigration issues, because it is the competent Service which welcomes immigrants from the moment they arrive in the free areas of the Republic.
To the best of its ability, the Civil Defense, and if it is assigned specific responsibilities for this issue, be sure that it will assist the effort ".
In a journalist remark that the President of the Republic had asked for proposals from the political parties and when asked if the majority of them have adopted these proposals, Mr. Nouris said that "the Ministry of Interior and the other competent Ministries had an inter-ministerial meeting last Saturday in which we drew up this action plan. Suggestions from the parliamentary parties reached the President yesterday and some of them have been included or were already in our proposals, some of which have been adopted. We believe, however, that with all the proposals received today by the announcement of the Government, the parliamentary parties are completely covered ".
Finally, the Minister said that tomorrow at 9 in the morning he will give a press conference at the Ministry of Interior regarding the bills of the Local Government.
Source: Liberal