UPDATED: Denmark denies signing EU statement on Syrian refugees’ return
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Denmark clarified on Friday it did not sign a declaration with other EU countries on the re-assessment of the situation in Syria for the return of the refugees.
On May 17, the Associated Press (AP) reported that eight European Union (EU) member states, including Denmark, said Syria’s situation should be reassessed to allow the voluntary return of Syrian refugees back to their country.
Officials from Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Malta, and Poland said in a joint statement they agree on the re-evaluation that could help address the issue of Syrian refugees seeking to reach Europe.
However, later, Denmark that attended the meeting clarified to the AP that it did not sign any statement about the issue.
Although the Cypriot Interior Ministry initially said that all eight EU countries at the meeting had signed the document, Denmark later clarified to the AP that it in fact did not sign.
During a summit meeting in the Cypriot capital, the eight countries said that despite not achieving a complete political stability, the situation in Syria has greatly developed.
Cyprus officials have frequently called the EU to discuss the designation of specific areas in Syria as safe to be able to return Syrian refugees.
Recently, the Cypriot government called on the EU to help Cyprus address the unprecedented numbers of Syrian immigrants arriving from Lebanon as its reception facilities were overstrained. The EU allocated a 1 billion euro in aid for Lebanon to enhance border controls to stop flow of Syrian immigrants to Cyprus.
The EU should support Lebanon more to “mitigate the risk of even greater flows from Lebanon to the EU,” according to the joint statement.
Meanwhile, Cypriot Interior Minister, Constantinos Ioannou, said that at first the returns would be voluntary and later could potentially become mandatory.
In Lebanon, over 300 Syrian refugees were recently deported to Syria amidst growing anti-refugee sentiments, prompting calls for international support in resettlement or facilitating returns to Syria.