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