Constantinos Ioannou

Starting on Wednesday, October 2, Cyprus will eliminate the need for planning permission for low-risk developments, such as the construction of one or two residential units. The decision, announced by Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou, aims to streamline the planning application process and ease pressure on local authorities.

Cyprus appealed on Wednesday for vigorous action from the EU to stem a recent tide of mostly Syrian refugees arriving by sea via Lebanon, saying the island's reception capacity was at breaking point.

Cyprus is the first European Union member country to repatriate more migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected than have arrived in a single year, the east Mediterranean island nation's interior minister said Thursday.

As record numbers of Syrian refugees reach the shores of Cyprus, the Nicosia government wants the European Union to consider declaring parts of their war-torn homeland safe to repatriate them to, the Cypriot interior minister said.

"Starting a discussion to re-evaluate the issue of Syria is crucial for us," Minister Constantinos Ioannou told Reuters in an interview.

EU member Cyprus wants Brussels to offer financial and technical aid to Lebanon to help it cope with an influx of Syrian refugees and keep them from reaching the island, its interior minister said on Wednesday.

Cyprus is launching an information campaign to counter a spike in irregular migration, authorities said on Tuesday, saying they were struggling with the highest inflows in the European Union.

The island has had the highest new asylum applications in proportion to its population for the past six years. Eurostat data for 2022 showed it at double that of second-placed Austria.

Cypriot authorities will spend more than 100 million euros ($106 million) to repair dozens of dilapidated high-rise housing units built decades ago for refugees from the island's 1974 Turkish invasion, officials said Thursday.

A steady decrease in new coronavirus infections three weeks into Cyprus' nationwide lockdown is allowing for the start of the gradual, targeted lifting of closures and restrictions, the country's health minister said Wednesday.

Cyprus is returning to lockdown for the remainder of the month, including daytime restrictions on movement and a shuttering of schools, after the government conceded Friday that a nightly curfew and other existing measures weren't enough to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

Cyprus' lawmakers on Thursday voted down the coming year's state budget for the first time since the country's founding in 1960, amid a squabble over a probe into a defunct "golden passport" program.