Parliament debates sweeping migration and asylum reform bill

Parliament on Thursday began discussing a government bill that will overhaul the law governing migrants and asylum seekers, drawing heavily on the European Pact on Migration and Asylum.

According to Akel MP Aristos Damianou, chair of the House interior committee, it is a mammoth task – the bill is 240 pages long.

Because of the upcoming dissolution of parliament in April – ahead of the May legislative elections – discussion of the legislation would be completed once the new MPs are sworn in.

On Thursday, the relevant government departments as well as human rights advocacy groups submitted their positions on the bill.

Regarding objections to some of the clauses, Damianou said they chiefly concern the proposed handling of unaccompanied minors.

Asked what matters are addressed specifically in the bill, the MP said the new legislation covers the entire process – from a person’s arrival in the Republic until their return.

“It’s a complex procedure consisting of four stages.”

For his part, Elam’s Sotiris Ioannou commented that the bill concerns “people who in their overwhelming majority arrived illegally in our country”.

He said his party has “no illusions that this EU law will lead to the resettling of the tens of thousands of illegal migrants to other European or non-European countries…but it certainly tightens up the framework governing the handling of these people”.

Ioannou expressed satisfaction with the fact that some of the legislative proposals on migration tabled by Elam, which passed through parliament, are “today implemented by the European Union itself – even though at the time we tabled them, we were called racists, populists, xenophobic and unrealistic”.

Under Elam’s proposals, an asylum seeker’s file would not be reopened once closed, and there would be a shortening of the time taken to process asylum applications.

Also, regarding unaccompanied minors, if they refuse a medical test to determine their age, they would automatically be deemed adults.

As the new legislation involves input from non-governmental organisations, Elam is urging the government to tighten regulation of NGOs “so that it becomes clear which organisations serve the interests of the Republic and its people, and which serve the interests of others”.

The European Pact on Migration and Asylum is a comprehensive set of 10 legislative acts adopted in May 2024 to overhaul EU asylum and migration policies. Key reforms include stricter border screenings, mandatory solidarity mechanisms for distributing asylum seekers, faster returns of non-eligible migrants, and modernized Eurodac data. The new rules will apply in June 2026.

Eurodac is the European Union’s centralised biometric database, designed to assist with the management of asylum applications.