The EU is working on an agreement with Lebanon that would provide the country with a funding package to curb the flow of illegal migrants into the EU. This was announced by the President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides.
⠀
“We want to help Lebanon deal with refugees so that more don’t come to Cyprus,” he said.
⠀
Christodoulides said that on May 2, together with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, he will visit Lebanon, where the financial package will be presented.
⠀
“It includes support for Lebanese institutions, such as the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are a stabilizing factor in the country,” the Cypriot president said.
⠀
Christodoulides described the refugee situation in Cyprus as critical.
⠀
“I am forced to resort to the clearest words here. Enough is enough, we are not able to accept any more Syrian refugees,” he said. “We are at the limit and cannot further overcome this influx,” the president added, pointing out that the share of migrants in relation to the population of Cyprus (about 920 thousand people, according to Eurostat) is 7%.
⠀
In this regard, he said, the Cypriot authorities asked the EU for help and decided to suspend the procedure for considering new applications for asylum.
⠀
“We strongly demand that certain areas in Syria be classified as safe regions,” Christodoulides said.
⠀
The President noted that over the past two to three months, Syrians have been arriving from Lebanon to Cyprus almost every day.
