The Parliament has passed a government bill into law aimed at accelerating the deportation of third-country nationals whose applications for international protection status are rejected, or whose granted protection status is revoked after they commit serious criminal offences.
The law was approved with 27 votes in favour and 15 against, with opposition coming from AKEL, the Greens, Kostis Efstathiou, and Alexandra Attalidou, following an extended debate in the Plenary Session.
The new legislation transfers certain powers to the Council of Ministers, the Deputy Minister, or the Head of the Asylum Service, and establishes a procedure for the revocation of international protection status for individuals who fall under exclusion grounds. It also introduces a ten-day deadline for submitting representations before final revocation, in line with EU Directive 2011/95/EU.
ELAM and DIKO debate
The vote was preceded by a debate, particularly between the far-right nationalist ELAM party and the centrist Democratic Party (DIKO).
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou announced that his party would withdraw its own 2022 proposal, claiming that the core elements of their policy—revoking status for those committing crimes—were now being adopted through the government’s bill. Ioannou stated that “the message must be simple: Those who commit crimes must be deported,” citing that 55% of inmates in Central Prisons are foreigners.
DIKO President Nicolas Papadopoulos supported the bill, summarising its impact: “Simply put, any asylum seeker who commits a criminal offence leaves. It should have been done a long time ago.”
Papadopoulos went on to criticise ELAM’s suggested migration policies, which he alleged included giving passports to migrants to send them to Europe, suspending the examination of asylum applications, and voting against migrant management funds.
“The correct policies bring results, and the wrong ones bring migrants,” Papadopoulos concluded, pointing to the government’s policies resulting in a 70% reduction in asylum applications, a 96% drop in applications from African countries, and zero sea arrivals.
Opposition and human rights concerns
MPs who voted against the bill raised concerns about human rights violations and lack of judicial oversight.
AKEL MP Aristos Damianou warned that the administrative nature of the measure, which allows for deportation without a court decision, risks exposing the Republic of Cyprus to international condemnation for human rights violations.
He argued that the safest course would be to secure a court decision before deportation, allowing for a detailed, individualised examination of the circumstances. Damianou also criticised the ten-day deadline for judicial protection as being insufficient, noting that Cypriot citizens have 75 days for a normal appeal.
Independent MP Kostis Efstathiou also opposed the bill, arguing that conferring administrative powers on the Deputy Minister or the Head of the Asylum Service is equivalent to granting such powers to the President, which he argued is unconstitutional.
Deputy Ministry welcomes vote
The Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection welcomed the bill’s passing, arguing that the amendment strengthens the Republic’s institutional framework for managing asylum issues and aligns national legislation with European law.
The Ministry said that the most significant change is the ability to remove supplementary protection status if the holder poses a risk to the public order or national security of the Republic.