EU border agency could help Cyprus stem migrant arrivals

The European Union’s executive chief says she's looking at ways of offering “more support” to Cyprus from the bloc’s border agency Frontex to stem the flow of migrants to the eastern Mediterranean island nation from nearby countries including Turkey

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- The European Union’s executive chief says she's looking at ways to offer “more support” to Cyprus from the bloc’s border agency Frontex to stem the flow of migrants to the eastern Mediterranean island nation from nearby countries including Turkey. Visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday offered no specifics on how Frontex could help but said that the EU's European Asylum Support Office could step up its efforts to help Cyprus expedite asylum applications. Cypriot officials say the country is stretched to its limits and can hardly cope as the number of migrants and refugees who have either received or applied for international protection in Cyprus now amounts to 4% of the country’s population. EU figures show that the vast majority of the 4 437 migrants who reached Cyprus so far this year crossed a United Nations-controlled buffer zone into the ethnically split country’s internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south from the breakaway, Turkish Cypriot north. The number of arrivals represents a 30% increase from the same period last year.