Cyprus is set to receive around €800 million for 2028-2034 to tackle immigration, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Monday.

Earlier Deputy Minister for Immigration Nicholas Ioannides said Cyprus, as a frontline EU member state, must seek to increase funds to handle the situation, most of which should come from the EU.

Both Ioannou and Ioannides were speaking at the 4th meeting of the monitoring committee for the home affairs fund for 2021-2027, taking place in Nicosia, where they stressed the need for funding as a key instrument towards strengthening the asylum, reception, immigration and returns system.

In the current planning period, Cyprus has been approved for €480 million, of which €304 million has already been given.

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This amount, Ioannou said, was 70 per cent higher than the previous planning period.

Added to national funds, Cyprus since 2021 has used €375m towards improving immigration infrastructure and procedures.

The interior minister said this money went towards a total of 95 projects.

Ioannides explained that EU funds converted money into interventions with a measurable result.

He referred to two such interventions in Cyprus, namely the Limnes reception and pre-departure centre, as well as the ugrading of the reception centre in Pournara.

The centre at Limnes, he said, was expected to be completed by September. It will have a capacity for 1,000 people and will relieve urban areas.

Upgrading Pournara, he added, would meet the new demands of reception centres under the new EU pact for migration and asylum.

Using EU funds, Cyprus has also upgraded the reception centre in Kofinou, Ioannides said.

Cyprus’ asylum system has also been strengthened with additional staff to better manage international protection applications, a move the deputy minister said was necessary due to the bulk of work to be processed.

Meanwhile, using EU funds, Cyprus recorded the highest ever number of returns of migrants to their countries over the past few years and is considered “a best practice example in this sector”, Ioannides said.

He explained that the EU funded all voluntary returns by 90 per cent of their cost and all mandatory ones by 75 per cent.

“Cyprus’ experience has shown that funding in the sector of returns has an immediate and measurable result,” he said.

The meeting’s agenda included supporting border management, visa control, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), and planning for the new period 2028-2034.