NICOSIA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus warned its European Union (EU) partners that it has reached its limits as far as immigration flows into the eastern Mediterranean island are concerned, and appealed for practical solidarity, government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said on Thursday.
Prodromou said the appeal was made by President Nicos Anastasiades at an informal dinner of EU leaders who met in Salzburg on Wednesday to discuss current issues ahead of a formal summit, but mainly focusing on the upcoming Brexit.
"We are struggling to cope with an increase influx immigrants...Cyprus has reached the limits of its capacity to host asylum seekers," Anastasiades was quoted as saying.
He told his fellow EU leaders that Cyprus is counting on a joint EU response on solidarity and a policy to be applied proportionally by all European member states, pointing out that Turkey refuses to cooperate with Cyprus on implementing an agreement with EU to receive back immigrants arriving from its soil, said Prodromou.
Prodromou said that Anastasiades also spoke on the issue of Brexit as reports suggest that Britain and EU are possibly heading to a break-up without a formal agreement.
"President Anastasiades is discussing the issue from the point of view of the close relations that our country has with Britain and which we would not like to abandon," Prodromou said.
Cyprus is seeking an arrangement on thousands of Cypriot nationals who live in the British Sovereign Base Areas, which are considered as British soil under the 1960 agreements which led to the decolonization of the island.
As an EU member, Britain is currently using Cypriot ports to freely bring in supplies for its bases, but there will be an issue after a Brexit without a formal agreement containing arrangements similar to those being sought to regulate the British-Irish border.
On another issue, Anastasiades suggested holding a summit between EU and Arab states to be held in Egypt in February.
