Agreement with Cyprus on electronic surveillance system
Dear Migration and Home Affairs,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, we are requesting documents which contain the following information:
The agreement that was signed with Cyprus regarding the provision by the EU of financial and material to assist with installing electronic surveillance in the UN-controlled buffer zone to monitor the arrivals of migrants from the Turkish-Cypriot side to the Greek-Cypriot side. Such agreement is mentioned in the publicly available article by Associated Press dated 19 April 2022 below:
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-m...
Yours faithfully,
Dr Petra Molnar
Dr Niovi Vavoula
Dear Dr Molnar, dear Dr Vavoula,
We refer to your e-mail of 19 April 2022 in which you make a request for access to documents.
The description given in your application does not enable us to identify concrete documents which would correspond to your request. The article of the Associated Press dated 19 April 2022 you are referring to mentions that ‘[…] to follow through on a promise for financial and material help to cope with the arrivals. Cyprus and the EU signed a deal on the matter last month’.
To our understanding, this would refer to the Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the EU-Cyprus Action Plan for Migration Management that was signed on 21 February 2022 between the Commission, the EU Agencies and the Republic of Cyprus, and not to any specific agreement between EU and Cyprus on financial and material support to assist Cyprus with installing electronic surveillance.
The scope of this Memorandum is to function as a framework of support to Cyprus in order to improve reception, asylum procedures, integration and the efficiency of returns.
We therefore invite you, in accordance with Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more detailed information on the documents you request.
If you need assistance in clarifying or specifying your application, you can contact us by email to: [DG HOME request email]
In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the deadline of 15 working days for handling your application will start running once we received the requested clarifications.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Yours faithfully,
HOME ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail of 19 April 2022. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 20 April 2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/2282.
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time-limit will expire on 12 May 2022. In case this time-limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
HOME Access to Documents Team
Dear Dr Molnar, dear Dr Vavoula,
A kind reminder on our clarification request (see attached).
Please be also reminded that in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the deadline of 15 working days for handling your application will start running once we received the requested clarifications.
Without any reply from you by the 28/04, we will close the case.
Yours faithfully,
HOME ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM