With specific and targeted actions, the Republic of Cyprus succeeded in increasing the number of returns of irregular migrants by 66% within 2023 compared to 2022, Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou told his European counterparts on Monday, in the context of the Ministerial Conference on Asylum and Immigration in Ghent.

Cyprus was invited by the organisers to present the effective measures it is taking in relation to the field of returns, an Interior Ministry press release notes.

Ioannou stated that various measures were implemented, focusing on cooperation with Frontex, informing migrants about the voluntary return programme, making use of the EU Solidarity Mechanism for the relocation of migrants to other member states and strengthening the voluntary return programme. The Republic of Cyprus, he added, focused on promoting the voluntary return programme, by introducing financial incentives to make it more attractive.

Targeted measures, he went on to say, resulted in an increase in the number of total returns by 66% and voluntary returns by 25%, compared to 2022. Equally positive results in relation to the increased number of returns were also recorded in the first quarter of 2024. More than 1,000 returns were made between January and April 2024, which translate to a 42% increase over 2023, he said. These data rank Cyprus first in the number of returns, in proportion to population, among the EU member states.

According to the press release, during the Summit, the European Commission proceeded to further analyse and define the implementation steps of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which should be ready for implementation in June 2026.

In particular, reference was made to the preparation by the Committee of the Joint Plan for the Implementation of the Covenant (JSP), on which the member states will rely in the context of the preparation of their national plans, which will record the assessment of needs and the implementation schedules of the various policies. The national plans in question will be used for the purpose of submitting requests for the absorption of funding from the European Funds and will be the tools for allocating the available resources.

In addition, in the context of the meeting, presentations were made by the competent European organisations on immigration and asylum issues, as well as on how to provide support to the member states, through the new procedures and pillars of the Pact.

On the sidelines of the Summit, the Minister of the Interior had a meeting with the Executive Director of Frontex, Hans Leijtens, with whom he discussed ways of further cooperation, especially in terms of returns. Furthermore, Ioannou and Leijtens exchanged views on strengthening the Agency's support to Cyprus.