(AP) The European Union and [its] border agency Frontex have helped Cyprus streamline procedures to return migrants who have had their asylum applications rejected amid soaring numbers of arrivals, the country’s interior minister said Tuesday.
The Standard Operation Procedures for Returns have been finalized and will be “continuously tested” during voluntary and forced returns over the next few months to identify and fix any problems.
Minister Nicos Nouris told reporters after talks with Beate Gminder, who heads the European Commission’s Migration Management Task Force, that Cyprus saw 1,335 new asylum applications in January — more [than] double the number from the same month two years ago.
