There is “no time frame” for the European Parliament’s resolution on immigration solidarity to be translated into action but a Cypriot MEP is confident things will move fast.

“There is no time frame but we are going to make sure it will be soon,” Kyriacos Triantaphyllides told a press conference yesterday after a visit to the European Asylum Support Office (Easo) in Malta.

“It will take time for any concrete proposals to come to Parliament but we are putting pressure, as is our role as parliamentarians.”

He added the European Commission was now expected to provide legislative proposals to turn the resolution into reality.

As rapporteur of the approved EP resolution, which calls for improved solidarity based on population size and wealth, Mr Triantaphyllides said he was confident this could be met.

He gave a presentation about the resolution to Easo executive director Robert Visser, who agreed with the resolution and committed the agency to promoting closer cooperation among member states.

Asked if he was endorsing the EP’s resolution, Dr Visser said it put the subject very explicitly on the political agenda.

“I’m happy with this discussion. I do not disagree at all with the (resolution). It puts a number of questions and decisions on the political agenda,” he said, adding the office was an existing instrument of solidarity.

The resolution was drawn up with the support of MEP Simon Busuttil, who lobbied intensely to put solidarity on the EP’s agenda.

On Monday night, Mr Triantaphyllides visited the detention centre at Lyster Barracks, Ħal Far, whose conditions he described as “not as bad as those in Lampedusa and Greece, but still bad”.