08/06/2021 16:27
Minister of Justice and Public Order of the Republic of Cyprus Emily Yiolitis called on EU counterparts, on Tuesday, to expedite and intensify the accession evaluation process for Schengen candidate countries, such as Cyprus, while intensifying police cooperation and security management across the entire block, at a doorstep statement arriving this morning at the Justice and Home Affairs Council, focusing today on Home Affairs, that takes place in Luxembourg.
More specifically, the Minister stated that "one among many other important items on the agenda is how to build a more resilient, but at the same time, more inclusive Schengen area."
"In doing so, we must recall that not all member states are Schengen states, and at the same time the EU Schengen states may reintroduce internal border controls in response to serious public policy or security threats" she added.
"The aim should not be to create a tight fortress of well protected core member states, intrinsically linking Schengen to migration flows and reintroducing border control in order to curb migration goes against the Schengen aquis", the Minister noted.
"What we must do, what the aim must be, is to intensify the evaluation process, so as to include as many Schengen candidate countries as possible and to encourage police Cooperation and Security Management across the entire block", she stated.
"And this is most important for front line first arrival countries, like Cyprus, with very disproportionate burden of incoming migration flows" said the Minister.
"Member states must remember that internal border controls even when justified must be temporary, they must be proportionate and they must be a measure of last resort", Minister Yiolitis noted.
"I remind you that Cyprus is the only EU country to be under illegal occupation", she recalled.
"It is a front arrival state", she said, "and it is still a Schengen candidate", she added.
"So strengthening internal border controls of Schengen while frontline countries remain Schengen candidates only acts punitively for such first arrival states which more than ever need the solidarity of their fellow member states" the Minister went on.
"We need to put forward a mechanism that genuinely fosters cooperation, and that can respond effectively to humanitarian crises" she added.
"The EU is a family of member states and each member state needs to remember that it is only as safe, as protected, as free as its fellow states", Minister Yiolitis concluded.