Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos on Friday promised that there will be no change to the rules regarding who can cross between Cyprus’ two sides at the crossing points which connect them should the island join Europe’s border-free Schengen zone, as he justified his ministry’s budget to the House finance committee.
He stressed that the framework under which the crossing points operate is set by European Union regulations, which will not change should Cyprus accede to the Schengen zone.
“Part of the controls have to do with security, and with identification for security, but this does not mean that they are border-type controls,” he said.
He also made reference to the issue of Tymbou (Ercan) airport, with many in Europe having questioned the feasibility of Cyprus’ joining of the Schengen zone given the fact that both it and the crossing points are operational.
The Cypriot government has thus far insisted that the Schengen zone’s new digital entry/exit system will not be implemented at the crossing points, but this, in reality, would lead to third-country nationals being able to arrive at and depart from the Schengen zone via Cyprus without undergoing the requisite administrative procedures.
As such, people could leave Cyprus via Tymbou (Ercan) and arrive elsewhere in the Schengen zone without having officially left, or arrive in Cyprus via Tymbou (Ercan) and then try to leave the Schengen zone elsewhere in Europe without having undergone the ordinary immigration procedures, thus creating an administrative breakdown in Europe’s common border.
The alternative would be to introduce the entry/exit system at the crossing points, which currently number nine in total, though this would entail for the government the risk of transforming the Green Line into a hard border.
Crossing point conundrum a ‘complex issue’
Kombos said of this conundrum that it is a “complex issue”, before stressing that in any case, “anyone who is entitled to pass through the free areas will continue to be entitled to do so even after we join the Schengen zone”.
In Europe, the European Commission had in July confirmed its own “positive assessment” of the island’s preparedness to join the Schengen zone, with the matter now resting with the Council of the European Union.
Of this, European Commission spokesman Markus Lammert had stressed in July that “it is clear that decisions on when and how Cyprus joins the Schengen area lie with the council”.
“The commission’s position is very clear. Cyprus’ full accession to the Schengen area would be strengthening the common framework of shared rules, standards, and responsibilities that underwrite Schengen cooperation,” he said.
However, for a new country to join the Schengen zone, a unanimous decision to that end must be taken by all of the countries inside the zone which are also members of the EU. They currently number 25, with only Cyprus and Ireland remaining on the outside.
The four Schengen zone countries which are not EU member states – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – are party to discussions but are not afforded votes in the process.
Cyprus’ Schengen accession not on JHA agenda this month
It had initially been hoped that the matter may be put to a vote following the EU’s summer recess, but these hopes were dealt a blow when the Council of the EU’s justice and home affairs (JHA) council elected not to include the issue on its agenda when it most recently met at the beginning of this month.
The JHA council will next meet in Brussels in December.
Given the salience of the crossing points and of Tymbou (Ercan) airport to Cyprus’ potential accession to the Schengen zone, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman has maintained that it is “extremely important” for the Turkish Cypriot side to be involved in the matter.
He also warned that Schengen accession “has the potential to bring about many complications, especially in the area of freedom of movement” regarding Turkish Cypriots, especially those who are not citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.
Cyprus is one of just two EU member states which remain outside the Schengen zone, with Ireland, the other, electing not to fully join the zone so as to not prejudice its common travel agreement with the United Kingdom, which is outside the EU, the Schengen zone, the European single market, and the European customs union.