Nicosia, Cyprus. Parliament on Thursday began discussing a government bill to overhaul the law governing migrants and asylum seekers, drawing heavily on the European Pact on Migration and Asylum. Akel MP Aristos Damianou said the 240-page bill is a mammoth task and debate is expected to resume after new MPs are sworn in.
Bill scope and timetable
Damianou, chair of the House interior committee, said discussion of the legislation would be completed once the new MPs are sworn in, due to the upcoming dissolution of parliament in April ahead of the May legislative elections. He said the new legislation covers the entire process from a person’s arrival in the Republic until their return, describing it as a complex procedure consisting of four stages.
Submissions and objections
On Thursday, relevant government departments and human rights advocacy groups submitted their positions on the bill. Damianou said objections to some clauses chiefly concern the proposed handling of unaccompanied minors.
Elam position
Elam’s Sotiris Ioannou said the bill concerns people who, he said, in their overwhelming majority arrived illegally in Cyprus. He said his party has no illusions that EU law will lead to resettling tens of thousands of illegal migrants to other European or non-European countries, but said it tightens the framework governing their handling.
Ioannou also said he was satisfied that some legislative proposals on migration previously tabled by Elam and passed through parliament are now implemented by the European Union, adding that when they were tabled his party was called racists, populists, xenophobic and unrealistic.
What aspects of the proposed bill would you like clarified as parliament’s debate continues?