Med5 Countries Meet In Athens To Discuss Acting As One On Migration - Cypriot Government

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2021) Interior ministers of five Mediterranean countries, which are strongly affected by mass migration, called for balance when sharing the responsibilities of refugee asylum at a recent MED 5 meeting in Athens, The Cypriot Interior Ministry said.

Ministers from Cyprus, Italy, Malta, Spain and Greece formed the MED5 group last year in an attempt to tackle the issues brought on by mass refugee migration. The Saturday meeting was initiated by Greece with the aim to help formulate common views and proposals on the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, which came into effect last year.

"We repeat our strong plea in favour of a needed true balance between solidarity and responsibility, as in its current format the Pact does not provide sufficient reassurances to the front-line Member States," the Cypriot ministry said in a press release issued after the meeting.

According to the press release, the five Mediterranean states have called for better cooperation with countries in Africa, the middle East and South Asia, for more EU members to show willingness to host refugees and for a centralized repatriation mechanism to be formed under the European Commission.

Cyprus, which has been greatly impacted by the vast number of immigrants coming into the country through the "green line" that separates the Turkish-controlled northern part of the island from the Greek-Cypriot administered south, asked Ankara to accept inspection from "relevant EU agencies, such as FRONTEX," the EU border control agency, the press release reads.

EU foreign and interior ministers held a teleconference earlier this week to discuss solutions needed to lessen the migration burden of certain countries.