Cyprus Mail 11 December 2022 - by Jean Christou
 |
| Interior Minister Nikos Nouris speaking on Sunday |
Cyprus was disappointed that no agreement was reached in Brussels on Friday with regard to a proposed regulation to address situations of instrumentalisation in the field of migration and asylum, Interior Minister Nico Nouris said on Sunday.
This has allowed Turkey, yet again, to get off scot free, Nouris said. Though the regulation is ready, he added, there was a reluctance by some member states to promote it to the European Parliament.
This means that the issue will now be passed to the upcoming Swedish presidency of the bloc.
According to the EU, ministers assessed progress in ongoing work on the regulation, which would allow member states facing a situation of instrumentalisation to exceptionally derogate from some of the common European asylum rules, where necessary and proportionate. It would also provide for specific rules on support and solidarity measures that may be taken in such a situation.
The proposal underlines that the EU would not accept any attempt by third countries to instrumentalise migrants for political purposes, and represents an adaptation of the EU legal framework with concrete measures to ensure an immediate and appropriate response to the hybrid threat and the use of certain migratory flows as a tool for political purposes.
Turkey, Nouris said, “through the instrumentalisation of immigration, seeks to cause economic, social, political problems as well as security and destabilisation problems”.
“Unfortunately the developments and what we experienced at the latest home affairs council in Brussels, where the reluctance of some member states to promote the regulation for a vote in the European Parliament, are disappointing,” he said. “This is a development that it leaves once again, the author of the problem in Cyprus, Turkey, in a safe place away from any sanctions”.
Nouris said he told the Council and that this development has affected European solidarity and hopes that the persistence of Cyprus, with the support of the member states that support it, that “there will soon be a review of positions and a reversal of this negative development”.
He made the comments in his address at a memorial on Sunday for the Heroes of Omorfita.
“While for 48 whole years we have been experiencing the provocative attempt of the neo-sultans of Ankara to colonise the occupied part of our homeland, in recent months we are witnessing a still methodical and heinous crime – the quasi-colonisation of the territories controlled by the Republic of Cyprus through the daily, systematic and guided promotion of thousands of irregular immigrants, through the green line”.
