Filenews 4 December 2025 - by Theodora Nikolaou
The government bill has been passed into law, which speeds up the deportation of third-country nationals whose applications for international protection status are rejected or have received protection but have committed serious offenses. The law was passed with 27 votes in favor and 15 against by AKEL, Ecologists, Kostis Efstathiou and Alexandra Attalidou, after a long debate in the Plenary Session of the House.
The changes transfer specific powers to the Council of Ministers, the Deputy Minister or the Head of the Asylum Service, while a procedure for the revocation of international protection status for persons who fall under grounds of exclusion is established. At the same time, a ten-day deadline is introduced for the submission of positions before the final revocation, in harmonization with the European Directive 2011/95/EU.
ELAM withdrew its proposal
ELAM MP, Sotiris Ioannou from the floor of the Plenary, said that "ELAM's positions on immigration are applicable, they are realistic and absolutely essential. The essence of the two points that we submitted as a law proposal in 2022, the first after a bill that was submitted and the second after a few months, is being voted on today. That is why we are withdrawing the draft law. Our proposals concerned the removal of the status of a person who commits a criminal offence after receiving his status. In fact, the position of the Deputy Ministry was not to do so by introducing specific offenses in order to be flexible in the possibility of removing the status. Today this distortion is being voted on and is now left to the necessary political will to find the criminals on the plane and back to their country."
"Cyprus suffers from crime and if you don't believe ELAM you can see the numbers that don't lie. In the Central Prisons, 55% of prisoners are foreigners, while for minors their percentage is close to 90%. Entire communities have been ghettoized and fear prevails among our compatriots. That is why the message must be simple: Those who commit crimes must be deported. And those who do not respect the hospitality offered by our country should go back to theirs," he added.
Today, he continued, third-country nationals exceed 200,000 and the money offered by our state from its own funds and not from the EU, exceeds €200 million.
The second point, as he mentioned, recorded in the ELAM law proposal is the removal of the possibility of reopening the file. "To date, it is allowed for an asylum seeker whose file was closed due to his own fault to come back and reopen the case within 9 months and with a new application. That is, he is given a second chance through legal tricks. According to the position of the Deputy Ministry, this possibility is removed with the new bill that is coming. In other words, what 3 years ago ELAM submitted with a law proposal is now being implemented. We have a long way to go to solve the problem. Our position is the strict immigration policy with deportations before we become a minority within our own country, because according to the numbers there we are headed," he concluded.
DIKO-ELAM quarrel
DIKO MP Panikos Leonidou stated that "Cyprus has for many years borne a disproportionate burden in the management of migration flows. Society expects from us feasible solutions and not slogans. We must recognize that in recent years there has been a spectacular improvement in immigration thanks to the targeted policy of the Government and the Deputy Ministry of Migration."
With the law we are passing today, he added, "it is possible to revoke the status of political refugees in the event that these persons have been convicted of committing serious offenses. These arrangements are also in line with the provisions of the EU Directive. The Government and our state send the message to all those who have secured this status that they are guests in this state and have the obligation to respect the laws, morals, culture and public order of this state."
"Of course, the safeguarding of their right to those whose judicial protection permit is revoked, which will be submitted within 10 days, continues," he said.
In turn, the President of DIKO, Nikolas Papadopoulos, noted that the bill is compliance with our European obligations. "Simply put, any political asylum seeker who commits a criminal offense leaves. It should have been done a long time ago," he added.
Furthermore, he wondered if "ELAM's position is that it agrees with the Government's policy or does it criticize it and consider that the end of the world on immigration has come, as described by Sotiris Ioannou? Let's remember what ELAM's positions are on immigration: to give passports to all immigrants to go to Europe. If we do this, what will happen in Cyprus? What will the hundreds of millions of immigrants in the world do when they think that Cyprus is handing out travel documents for Europe? How many boats will set off for the shores of Cyprus if we listen to ELAM? ELAM's position is also to suspend the examination of asylum applications. So, as many immigrants as we have in Cyprus, we will let them, we will pay them benefits and we will not deport them. The third position of ELAM is the vote against the funds for the management of immigrants. How will we do the deportations if we listen to them? These are the positions of ELAM. Instead, the evidence shows a different picture. We have a 70% reduction in political asylum applications, a 96% reduction in asylum applications from African countries, we have zero arrivals by sea, we have a reduction in the examination of applications in days and not years as it was previously. The Republic of Cyprus has deported more immigrants from the UK. Pournara has been emptied. The right policies bring results and the wrong ones bring immigrants," he concluded.
Taking the floor, ELAM MP Linos Papagiannis responded to Mr. Papadopoulos by saying that "ELAM recognizes that moves have been made in the right direction but at the same time emphasizes that the migration issue has not been solved. Our country continues to be in first place in terms of population ratio in asylum applications. It is extremely strange that such an intelligent person cannot distinguish between two simple things. We have stated that our intention was, among 15 other measures, if Europe had not changed its position towards Cyprus, as a last resort to issue a few hundred temporary passes to increase our pressure if we did not have a response. One of our proposals is exclusively for Syrians to temporarily stop the examination of every new application, not freeze all applications. Our position is also that the payment of any allowance should not proceed with these applications." Regarding the funds, he said that "in 2020 ELAM submitted a proposal so that if our country proceeded with mass deportations, we could request the money from European funds, if it did not give it to us, then yes we would proceed with state spending."
Objections of MPs
Kostis Efstathiou stated that "the problem with the bill is that commanders are provided with powers to the Deputy Minister. It is not a personal matter, I appreciate Mr. Ioannidis, but the Deputy Minister, who is only accountable to the PtD, cannot exercise administrative acts. It is as if we are conferring administrative authority on the President of the Republic. The President, according to the Constitution, is not an administrative body. The problem with administrative acts is that some may be applied after a conviction and some may be deported and others may not be deported. And because our system in Cyprus is null and void, it cannot be checked whether the act was correctly implemented. That is why, because the court decision will be missing from the whole grid, I cannot vote for this law. I remind you of the proposal of Nikos Tornaritis, which answers all these questions. So I propose that this bill should not be voted on and instead that the law proposal of Mr. Tornaritis should be passed."
AKEL MP Aristos Damianou said that "the statistics tell the truth that there is also a Cypriot-style crime, there is also imported crime. The biggest crimes are documented to be organized through the Central Prisons and by Cypriots in fact. Therefore, it is a given that there is an increase in crime and foreigners who are in Cyprus also participate in it. Can this in itself justify actions that may expose the Republic of Cyprus internationally? Are states that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, the Geneva and UN protocols entitled to expel asylum seekers or applicants for subsidiary protection? Possibly, individually, under certain conditions, this can be done. But today we do not vote for individualized pushbacks or deportations. Our objection is based on the risk that in this case the Republic of Cyprus will be exposed with a conviction for human rights violations."
Mr. Damianou said that "the safe thing for the Republic of Cyprus would be with a decision of a court, which will be called upon to individually examine the personal circumstances and circumstances of each one, to shield the decision of the Republic of Cyprus to deport. That is why we had proposed to continue the discussion of the relevant law proposal in the Legal Committee, which has more complete safeguards than what is an administrative measure that does not receive judicial control." Regarding the 10-day deadline, he said that these are very few and I remind you that for a normal appeal a Cypriot has 75 days at his disposal. "We cannot support a bill that can expose the RoC but we are in a position to discuss the proposal for a court decision on deportations," he concluded.
For... in anticipation of Tornaritis' proposal
DISY MP Nikos Sykas reminded that "DISY's proposal is a law proposal which with the adoption of the amending law we will evaluate and add those that will make the law more effective". A clear solution is for anyone who is illegal to go home. But to go with the legal based on EU law. Therefore, we will vote for the amending bill and in anticipation of the law proposal of Nikos Tornaritis and where additions are needed, we will make them."
Andreas Themistocleous said that "illegal immigration is a curse. They are the immigrants who adapt to the host country. It cannot be the demand that the Cypriot people adapt according to the culture of the immigrants coming to Cyprus. Legality is the key word." He suggested that "the place should come to interstate agreements for the return of illegal immigrants from the countries they came from". Cyprus, he continued, "must do what Spain does. To accept asylum applications in consulates, embassies and where there is neither one nor the other from embassies and consulates of other friendly European countries." Furthermore, he said that the Republic of Cyprus should come to an agreement with Lebanon to prohibit the departure of all means of sea from its ports to Cyprus. "The evil must stop there," he added. Finally, he stressed that the word potatoes immigrants is a nonsense, adding that "the word is illegal. I will support the law proposal of Mr. Tornaritis and we hope that it fills some gaps in the bill, which I will also vote for."
Welcomes the Deputy Minister. Immigration
The Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection welcomes the passage into law by the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives of the bill amending the Refugee Law.
According to an announcement by the Deputy Ministry, with the amendment in question, "the institutional framework of the Republic for the management of asylum issues is strengthened, and the national legislation is harmonized with the European one".
As stated, "the most important change is the possibility now provided to the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection to remove the supplementary protection status, in the event that its holder poses a danger to public order and/or the national/state security of the Republic".
"In addition to this targeted amendment of the existing legislation, additional harmonizing legislation will soon be submitted to the House of Representatives, which will concern the implementation of the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum," it added.
Until the entry into force of the new legislative framework, the current regulation ensures that the Republic has the necessary means to effectively maintain public order and security, it is noted.
The Deputy Ministry expresses its thanks to the political parties that voted in favor of the bill, for their responsible attitude, the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior, as well as the Legal Service for the critical legal guidance throughout the process.
At the same time, it remains "committed to its close cooperation with the House of Representatives, so that the harmonization of national legislation with the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will apply in June 2026, can proceed in a timely manner".
He also assures that "he will continue to work for the implementation of a strict immigration policy, with the aim of protecting public order, the safety of citizens and national/state security, with absolute respect for human rights and the obligations of our country, as they derive from EU and international law".
