Migration: EU goals for refugee take care of Lebanon | EUROtoday

Migration
EU seeks refugee take care of Lebanon

According to Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulidis, an settlement with Lebanon is now being labored on to forestall undesirable Syrian refugees from coming into the EU.

“We want to help Lebanon deal with the refugees so that more don’t come to Cyprus,” stated the top of state of the EU island republic in an interview with the editorial community Germany (RND). He is trying ahead to touring to Lebanon on May 2nd along with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to announce a concrete monetary package deal from the European Union.

Not simply monetary help

However, the package deal doesn’t solely embrace the monetary side, emphasised Christodoulidis. It can also be about supporting Lebanese establishments such because the armed forces. The latter are a stabilizing issue within the nation, which borders Syria and Israel.

Christodoulidis described the present state of affairs in Cyprus as essential. “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 start of the yr, round 4,000 migrants have landed on the island within the jap Mediterranean – within the first quarter of the earlier yr there have been solely 78.

From a German perspective the quantity could appear comparatively small, however for the small island republic the burden is gigantic. Relative to its inhabitants, nowhere within the EU has as many asylum functions as Cyprus. In different phrases: 4,000 new functions there would correspond to 340,000 in Germany. The refugee camps in Cyprus are overcrowded and the authorities have stopped processing Syrians' asylum functions in the intervening time.

Lebanon within the worst financial disaster

Lebanon, about 160 kilometers away from Cyprus, is within the midst of the worst financial disaster in its historical past – in accordance with the World Bank, one of many worst crises on this planet for the reason that mid-Nineteenth century. The native foreign money has misplaced greater than 95 p.c of its worth. The nation with 5.3 million inhabitants is residence to greater than 1.5 million Syrian refugees. This makes it one of many international locations which have taken in essentially the most refugees per capita on this planet. Migrants from Tripoli within the north are attempting to get to Cyprus by boat.

Experts see numerous elements behind the newest improvement – above all of the uncertainty that the brand new struggle within the Gaza Strip, which has now lasted greater than six months, is inflicting within the area. Most of the brand new arrivals in Cyprus are Syrian refugees who beforehand lived in Lebanon. Its ambassador to Cyprus, Claude el Hajal, lately spoke of two million Syrians in her nation, most of them illegally. The EU's monetary assist to Lebanon is in the end simply “crumbs”.

Christodoulidis stated he requested the EU for assist. There additionally must be a dialogue about which individuals from Syria ought to be given an opportunity at asylum within the EU. “We expressly demand that certain areas in Syria be classified as safe regions,” he stated.

In order to scale back undesirable migration, amongst different issues, the EU lately made new cooperation and help agreements with Egypt and Tunisia. They present billions in monetary assist for the federal states. However, there’s criticism of the deliberate nearer cooperation due to the human rights state of affairs there.

dpa