Filenews 10 December 2025
The Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum, Nicolas Ioannides, presented the main priorities of the Cyprus Presidency in Brussels, focusing on the implementation of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum and the overall architecture of the European policy around migration, solidarity and returns. The central priority is the implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact according to the timetable, he said.
With references to the procedures, the political balances and the challenges ahead, Mr. Ioannides described the framework within which the Cyprus Presidency aspires to act as a catalyst for the progress of the relevant legislation.
"The big goal is to ensure that the Pact on Migration and Asylum enters into force on June 12, 2026, as is the goal. And I say it's a goal because you know there are some disagreements from member states, but we believe that we can overcome any obstacles and succeed." The Deputy Minister said that the success of the Pact depends on a series of interdependent legislation and that the Presidency will seek to go as far as possible in the time available.
An important pillar of this effort is the promotion of the regulation on the concepts of safe third country and safe country of origin. Mr. Ioannidis said that "we want to proceed with the amendment of the regulation on the concepts of safe third country and safe country of origin, which is already at an advanced stage. This is important for us because it will help us speed up asylum procedures even more." As he explained, faster processing of applications is a crucial element of fair and effective migration management.
On the Return Regulation and following the general approach reached in the Council, the Cyprus Presidency is now undertaking the trilogues with the European Parliament. "On a thorny issue, of course, the general approach was reached the day before yesterday on the regulation on returns, and we will take over the trilogues." As Mr. Ioannidis said, "it's good to run it a lot for us too." Asked about the difficulty of the process, he replied that the issue is sensitive for the European Parliament, and on the part of Cyprus "an effort will be made" to complete the regulation within the Presidency, although this will largely depend on the positions of the political groups.
The Deputy Minister made a special analysis on the issue of the solidarity mechanism, which he described as "quite a sensitive issue for Cyprus". He referred to the negotiations that preceded, saying that "although it is very important that for the first time we have something like this. There were some negotiations about the numbers. We and MED5 in general wanted 30 thousand relocations and 600 million. funding. An attempt was made to balance, they were initially halved due to the fact that it will start in June, it will be half a year. But we managed to increase the numbers in both."
Despite these increases, what Cyprus is asking for is the real implementation of solidarity, he said. "However, what I said both publicly and in the Council is that we want to see this solidarity policy implemented in practice. For us, in practice it means relocations," he continued. At this point, he added that "a small island under occupation cannot withstand large numbers", underlining that Cyprus is called upon to manage both the population reserves already on the island, as well as the possibility of a new crisis.
The Deputy Minister also presented the national strategy of Cyprus, which focuses on strengthening borders, faster procedures and increasing returns. "Finally, we should not see these piecemeal. We must and we want and we are working to strengthen the external borders, which reduces the flows. We have also done this in Cyprus and we have reduced flows by 86% since 2022." At the same time, as he said, the national return system is also operating. "At the same time, we have our own national return system, which we have managed in three years to repatriate over 30,000 third-country nationals," he said. Based on this, Nicosia calls for the full implementation of European solidarity, in particular through relocations.
Regarding the bilateral contacts that have already begun in the framework of the Presidency, Mr. Ioannidis explained that the aim is to form an overall picture of the positions of the member states. "I have already held many bilateral meetings with other member states. We want to have a picture of the concerns, of their positions, as honest intermediaries that we need to be in the next six months, so I want to have an insight into what concerns them and how we can work together to solve some problems," he said.
Asked which countries do not support relocations, the Deputy Minister replied "most of them. It's not a secret, we say it." However, he hastened to clarify that these member states are not against the Pact. "There are some disagreements with individual aspects. In essence, no one disagrees, it's just that some people don't want to take relocations." Asked if this stance is consistent with the request of Cyprus and Greece for substantial solidarity, he replied positively, estimating that there are member states willing to proceed with relocations.
The Deputy Minister also referred to the relations with the European Parliament and the contacts he had with the political groups last October, stressing that in addition to the political groups and the head of the LIBE Committee, the President of the European Parliament was also in Nicosia in the previous days. "In general there is a positive approach, but you realize that there are other forces in parliament that are a little more hesitant." Concluding, he reiterated that "any solutions should be compatible with international and EU law. But at the same time we have to show work. Our citizens expect results on immigration."
CNA
