Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday, January 18, that Cyprus is “in the final stages” of preparations to join Europe’s Schengen area.
Speaking at a meeting of the European People's Party in Berlin, he said his government's "main goal" was integration into the Schengen area and that it had "done a lot of work to achieve this goal."
“We are in the final stages of achieving this goal, our goal is to be ready by 2025 from a technical point of view, to complete all the preparatory work for the Republic of Cyprus to become a member state of the Schengen Agreement,” he said.
He added that Cyprus' accession to the Schengen area will become "a reality during or before the first half of 2026" when the country assumes the presidency of the European Council.
His comments follow on from Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos, who previously told Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner that the European Commission's "leadership" in achieving the ultimate goal of joining the Schengen area was "the key to this important goal."
He added that joining the Schengen area is a "key priority" for the Cypriot government and said Cyprus' accession to the Schengen area would be "mutually beneficial for Cyprus and all European citizens."
The Schengen area is a European free movement area in which people can travel without having their passports checked.
With Bulgaria and Romania fully joining the zone at the end of the year, Cyprus became one of two European Union member states not included in the zone, along with the Republic of Ireland, which is part of a separate free movement zone with the United Kingdom, not being a member of the EU.
In addition to the 25 EU member states, the Schengen area also includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Source: cyprus-mail.com
