Cyprus Wants EU Support for Migrant Crackdown as Flows Rise

Cyprus said Wednesday it will seek European Union approval to stop processing asylum claims from migrants illegally entering the east Mediterranean island nation.

Government spokesman Marios Pelekanos said a surge of new migrant arrivals is fueling serious crime, taxing state coffers and altering the country’s demographics.

Pelekanos said authorities would also press the EU to relocate a number of asylum seekers living in Cyprus to other bloc member countries and strike agreements with third countries to take back their citizens {snip}

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Pelekanos said that in just the first 10 months of this year, migrant arrivals were up 38% compared to all of 2020. {snip}

The spokesman said asylum seekers comprise 4% of the population in the island’s south — four times the average of other EU front-line states — and 16% of all primary school students are children of migrants.

Pelekanos also said that migrants account for more than 43% of people implicated in serious crimes.

According to Pelekanos, the government paid 178 million euros ($205 million) between 2014-2020 for migrant allowances and accommodation {snip}

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