Filenews 23 March 2022
In Cyprus, already about 700 refugees from Ukraine have submitted applications for protection and the Department of Aliens and Migration has issued the first special residence cards, which are the "passport" of these people in the country, which under the European directive are considered as people in need of protection, said the Minister of Interior Nikos Nouris.
In response to questions from journalists at the Ministry, Mr. Nouris said, specifically, that "so far, around 700 applications for protection have been submitted to the Department of Aliens and Migration, which are being examined at a very fast pace, concern refugees who arrived in Cyprus after the start of the war on February 24th and are considered as people in need of protection under the European directive".
"Everything is in the process of being developed and already cards have begun to be issued despite the fact that it is a very short time that has elapsed since the directive was given," the Minister noted.
He added that "with the 1st filing of these applications, just as we have announced, within two to three days of the filing of such an application, the first cards have already been issued".
As Mr. Kouris explained, these cards "are in quotation marks the passport of these people in the Republic of Cyprus for the next 12 months to enjoy that assistance that we have announced either at the level of housing, or at the level of food, or at the level of education, or at the level of health care".
He said that "the issue here too is to have a number that will allow us to be able to respond to the data of the Republic of Cyprus".
Finally, the Minister of Interior noted that "there is all the good will and intention to help these people and we hope to support the EU mainly in covering the financial costs so that we can be effective".
Regarding the arrivals of irregular migrants, the Minister said that "in the Republic of Cyprus in 2022 we have hopefully reached 4,800 new asylum applications only by March 20th, so it is understood that if in the first months of 2022 we have hopefully approached ,5000 asylum applications, you understand what the situation may be after the end of this year".
He added that "it will be an extremely aggravating picture which I very much doubt we will be able to manage because we have already passed our own capabilities with the gathering of all these people in the Centres, so it is urgently and quickly needed to be taken and implemented and to be effective, actions that will prevent the inflows".
He brought Greece as an example and explained that while in 2020, 78,000 thousand irregular migrants had arrived the following year with the drastic and decisive measures taken, the number of arrivals in Greece decreased to 4,800".
"So there is a way to regulate the arrivals and that's the way we need to reduce those numbers and stop exactly what is happening," the Interior Minister concluded.
CNA
