The European Commission is closely observing Cyprus’ progress in fulfilling the requirements needed towards Schengen membership, the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Magnus Brunner, has said.
In addition, the Commission said that up to this point, over €292 million worth of EU funding has been allocated to Cyprus for border management, as well as migration and police cooperation, under the 2021 to 2027 program period, Schengen.News reports.
This includes €6.77 million for the construction of new reception and pre-departure centres in the Limni area, €30 million for enhancing surveillance capabilities at sea borders, as well as €9.9 million dedicated to reinforcing digital systems such as the Schengen Information System (SIS).
Cyprus Made Significant Progress Towards Schengen Membership
On Wednesday, April 23, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Constantinos Kombos, said that his country had made significant progress towards Schengen Area membership in the two years since the current government came to power.
He told Cyprus Mail that joining the Schengen Area is “a top political priority for Cyprus”.
However, according to him, the challenges which remain are the thorniest.
Our effort was and remains to convince the commission to carry out its final re-evaluation in all areas within this year. Until then, the path will be difficult, the next six months require hard work.
He also said that the results show that Cyprus has made progress in terms of the recommendations, stressing that “We will continue the hard work without many words, keeping a low profile for many different reasons.”
His comments came following the European Commission’s recent “State of Schengen” report, which was published on Wednesday. The Minister described the Commission’s evaluation of Cyprus as encouraging.
On Wednesday, the European Commission published its fourth State of Schengen, which reviews developments over the past year and emphasises priorities for the next year.
Accession to Schengen Among Cyprus’s Top Priorities
In January this year, the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said that his country would resolve all the technical issues needed to join the Schengen Area by the end of this year.
Cyprus has been part of the European Union since 2004, but not part of the Schengen Zone.
We have addressed all political concerns regarding the cease-fire line and are now finalising the technical details required for accession.
The President said that the Schengen accession would boost tourism, which he considered essential for the country’s economy.