Cyprus is on a good way of getting things done, Corinna Ullrich, Director-General in charge of Horizontal Affairs and Migration of the European Commission, said on Friday as regards the national implementation process for the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Ullrich and her term discussed in Nicosia with representatives of services involved, the progress achieved so far on the implementation by Cyprus of the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

As regards reception infrastructure, she said that Cyprus already has “a big chunk of work” that some other member states now need to start with, while also noting some areas that require “major work”.

At the meeting, head of the European Funds Unit, Constantinos Kyprianou, noted that their Directory was designated as a contact point for the preparation of Cyprus’ national implementation plan. “We knew, having the experience of similar tasks, that this would be a challenging one, taking into account the timeframes set”, which could only be achieved with hard work and cooperation of all stakeholders involved, he said.

So far, he added, “the goal has been achieved” and the first milestone, to send Cyprus’ contribution on the Baseline of the Needs Assessment by September 10, has been met successfully. Kyprianou gave an overview of the actions taken so far, noting that the next step for Nicosia was to submit by October 15 the draft national implementation plan to the Commission and by December 12, the final version of the implementation plan.

Kyprianou thanked Ullrich and her team of their assistance.

Ullrich, in her initial remarks noted that this was “a very challenging task” for all members states, to implement the pact within two years. Although the pact consists mainly of regulations, there is a lot to do and prepare infrastructure and have staff in place, she noted. She also said that, even though this is something they don’t normally do, because the Commission saw these challenges while they were negotiating the Pact, they set up country teams in order to accompany members states through the implementation process.

“The idea is to identify as early on what needs to be done”, where each member state has the biggest gap, and how to fill this gap by mid-2026 so then the application of the pact can begin.

She said that Cyprus was among the top three member states to submit their needs assessment and that this enabled them to prepare this meeting in Nicosia.  

Ullrich said that during her current visit, she has been to three reception facilities, in Pournara and Kofinou and saw what is being done in the Limnes area, noting that it was “very impressive”, and noted the progress made.  She said that Cyprus already has “a big chunk of work that some other member states now need to start with”. “You are already halfway there”, she added.  

In general, she said, “we think Cyprus is well set up, because here you already have colleagues who have been working with you for quite some time”. “This is why we have already established working mechanisms but we also know already Cyprus quite well, so I think we already have a good point of departure to get things done by 2026, which is not the case necessarily for all member states”, Ullrich said. “We are happy to have these conditions here”, she added.

Ullrich also noted that they converted the 10 regulations concerning the Pact into 10 building blocks. Thanks to Cyprus’ timely answer, she said, they see many things “are on a very good way” but that four building blocks still “require major work”.

She said that this concerns Block 2 on the screening and border procedure. She said that screening in Cyprus is set up very well on identity and security checks, noting that what is new are health vulnerability checks, among other things.

She also referred to Block 3 concerning the reception system, noting that in Cyprus, in general reception was in a very good way on what has been done but that they see “a big issue” which relates also with Block 9 on unaccompanied minors and vulnerable people. Ullrich said that they discussed with Cypriot authorities the facilities of Kofinou as a possibility to be used as a shelter for unaccompanied minors, but noted that it needed to meet the necessary reception capacities. She also said later that Kofinou was “not really appropriate in terms of infrastructure” for unaccompanied minors.

She also referred to the backlog of asylum applications and that there needs to be a catch up on this, because there are too many cases that go beyond the absolute maximum of 21 months. This has to do with recruiting the appropriate people, she added.

Ullrich also noted the issue of applications from Syrans. “We understand they are being delayed”, she said, noting that it was important to make sure that an additional backlog was not created, instead of reducing it.

She also referred to the European Union Agency for Asylum (UEAA) and Frontex in Cyprus. “We understand the cooperation on the ground is very good”, but it is also clear, she said, that the EU agencies are only meant to come in and assist when there is an emergency and they are not to “stay forever” in the same place doing work in time of normal flows. We will have to think about gradually replacing them, she said.

As regards funds, Ullrich said that it was important to have an idea on what they needed to finance in all member states. She noted that the European Council has decided to shift an additional €2 billion to migration in the midterm review of the multiannual financial programming, “which sounds a lot, but knowing now that you have been working on these reception centres, how quickly the money goes”. It will not be enough to finance everything that needs to be financed, Ullrich said, adding that they will have to make smart decisions on how to find funding and that they need to combine this with national funds.

After Kyprianou’s and Ullrich’s initial statements a discussion followed with officials of services involved in the migration, asylum and reception procedures on each of the 10 building blocks and the issues faced as regard their implementation.