Cyprus and Sweden to act on resettlement of Iraqi refugees

Cypriot Minister of the Interior Neoclis Sylikiotis and Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billstrom visited Jordan on May 18 and 19, in the context of joint action regarding the resettlement of refugees from Iraq in EU member states.

According to an official press release issued on Friday, on the occasion of an article written by the two Ministers and published on June 3 in the ''European Voice'' newspaper, the purpose of the visit was to investigate the living conditions of Iraqi refugees and to investigate and promote a possible resettlement of the refugees in EU member states.

The two Ministers aim at developing a common policy on refugees by the EU member states, with two specific aims, namely to effectively tackle the huge humanitarian problem faced by these persons, and to share the burden with countries, such as Cyprus, which are on the front line as regards asylum applications by refugees of the broader region.

In their article, the two Ministers note that last September, the EU member states agreed to resettle 10,000 Iraqis from Syria and Jordan in an attempt to help two countries that have taken an enormous responsibility in providing protection to the almost two million Iraqis who have fled their country since 2003.

They point out the necessity for a more systematic system of burden-sharing, a common European resettlement programme through which member states can coordinate their actions.

In December, EU leaders agreed that an EU resettlement scheme should be part of an EU pact on migration, Sylikiotis and Billstrom note, adding that in July the European Commission should present its proposal for such a programme and that, if the results are inadequate, the EU should move to make the programme binding.