Filenews 8 June 2021
Minister of Justice and Public Order Emily Yolitis called on EU counterparts to speed up and intensify the accession evaluation process for Schengen candidate countries, such as Cyprus, while stepping up police cooperation and security management across the bloc, in a statement on arrival Tuesday morning at the Justice and Home Affairs Council (in line with Interior Ministers) taking place in Luxembourg.
More specifically, the Minister stated that "one of the many other important items on the agenda is how to build a more resilient, but at the same time, more inclusive Schengen area".
"In this way, it should be remembered that not all Member States, Schengen states and at the same time EU Schengen states can reintroduce internal border controls in response to serious public policy or security threats."
"The aim should not be to create a narrow fortress of well-protected core Member States, which intrinsically links Schengen to migration flows, and to restore border control in order to limit migration contrary to the Schengen acquis," the Minister noted.
"What we need to do is intensify the evaluation process to include as many Schengen candidate countries as possible and encourage police co-operation and security management across the bloc," he said.
"And this is very important for first-come, first-line countries, such as Cyprus, with a very disproportionate load of incoming migration flows," she added.
"Member States must remember that internal border controls, even when justified, must be temporary, must be proportionate and must be a last resort," the Minister noted.
"I remind you that Cyprus is the only EU country that is illegally occupied," Ms. Yolitis recalled.
"It is a state of first arrival," he said, "and it is still a candidate for Schengen," she added.
"Therefore, strengthening Schengen internal border controls, while frontline countries remain candidates for Schengen, acts punitively only for such first-arrival states that need the solidarity of their fellow citizens more than ever."
"We need to propose a mechanism that really promotes cooperation and can respond effectively to humanitarian crises" she added.
"The EU is a family of Member States and every Member State must remember that it is only as safe and protected as its other states," concluded the Minister.
Source: KYPE
