migration
EU seeks refugee deal with Lebanon
Numerous Syrian refugees have arrived in Cyprus in recent months. photo
© Petros Karadjias/AP/dpa
Cyprus has been recording a sharp increase in the number of refugees for weeks. The refugee boats come from Lebanon. Now European money is supposed to help the transit country.
To prevent unwanted Syrian refugees from entering the country According to Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulidis, an agreement with Lebanon is now being worked on to prevent the EU.
“We want to help Lebanon deal with the refugees so that more don’t come to Cyprus,” said the head of state of the EU island republic in an interview with the editorial network Germany (RND). He is looking forward to traveling to Lebanon on May 2nd together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to announce a concrete financial package from the European Union.
Not just financial support
However, the package does not only include the financial aspect, emphasized Christodoulidis. It is also about supporting Lebanese institutions such as the armed forces. The latter are a stabilizing factor in the country, which borders Syria and Israel.
Christodoulidis described the current situation in Cyprus as critical. “I have to use the clearest words here: Enough is enough. We are not in a position to take in any more Syrian refugees.” Since the beginning of the year, around 4,000 migrants have landed on the island in the eastern Mediterranean – in the first quarter of the previous year there were only 78.
From a German perspective the number may seem relatively small, but for the small island republic the burden is enormous. Relative to its population, nowhere in the EU has as many asylum applications as Cyprus. In other words: 4,000 new applications there would correspond to 340,000 in Germany. The refugee camps in Cyprus are overcrowded and the authorities have stopped processing Syrians’ asylum applications for the time being.
Lebanon in the worst economic crisis
Lebanon, about 160 kilometers away from Cyprus, is in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history – according to the World Bank, one of the worst crises in the world since the mid-19th century. The local currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value. The country with 5.3 million inhabitants is home to more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees. This makes it one of the countries that have taken in the most refugees per capita in the world. Migrants from Tripoli in the north are trying to get to Cyprus by boat.
Experts see various factors behind the latest development – above all the uncertainty that the new war in the Gaza Strip, which has now lasted more than six months, is causing in the region. Most of the new arrivals in Cyprus are Syrian refugees who previously lived in Lebanon. Its ambassador to Cyprus, Claude el Hajal, recently spoke of two million Syrians in her country, most of them illegally. The EU’s financial aid to Lebanon is ultimately just “crumbs”.
Christodoulidis said he asked the EU for help. There also needs to be a discussion about which people from Syria should be given a chance at asylum in the EU. “We expressly demand that certain areas in Syria be classified as safe regions,” he said.
In order to reduce unwanted migration, among other things, the EU recently made new cooperation and support agreements with Egypt and Tunisia. They provide billions in financial aid for the federal states. However, there is criticism of the planned closer cooperation because of the human rights situation there.