The European Union (EU) has allocated 3.1 million euros (3.55 million U.S. dollars) in additional assistance to Cyprus to improve its capacity to care for irregular immigrants and asylum seekers, state television reported on Thursday.
Cyprus has the largest concentration of asylum seekers among all EU members relative to its size and population, having received 15,000 asylum applications during the last few years, according to the minister of interior.
The minister has also said that over 4,000 irregular immigrants -- also the largest ratio of arrivals among EU members-- are expected in the one-million population eastern Mediterranean island by the end of this year.
State television quoted EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, as saying that the money will be spend to turn a temporary refugee center near the capital Nicosia into a full-capacity facility to host immigrants and asylum seekers on a 24-hour long-term basis.
Avramopoulos had been in Cyprus in September for an on-site examination of Cyprus's needs for effective management of the returnee influx.
SOURCE: Xinhua
