(AP) 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 who have had their asylum applications rejected.
“The government is taking additional action as part of a comprehensive migration policy that respects human rights, but also protects the rights and interests of the country’s citizens,” Pelekanos told reporters.
