Cyprus to host more migrants than its EU quota

Cyprus will host more than 500 refugees who fled from war zones in the Middle East and from Africa, well above its EU quota, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Cyprus is perhaps the first EU country to officially announce acceptance of the European Commission's proposal for the proportional relocation of migrants.

Spokesman Victor Papadopoulos said the eastern Mediterranean island will take 274 more refugees, 123 from Hungary, 115 from Greece and 36 from Italy.

"These people will be added to those already in Cyprus, raising the total number to above 500 people," said Papadopoulos.

Cyprus authorities rescued 114 people from a drifting fishing boat last week.

The island had already been hosting more than 200 people, some of them coming from a crowd of about 300 Syrians rescued in a dramatic operation in September, 2014 off its south shores.

Papadopoulos said the EU allocation was calculated on the size of the population, GDP, unemployment and average asylum applications per 1 million inhabitants.

"The member states will be able to receive refugees based on their own criteria in order to choose those that are easier to integrate into their society," Papadopoulos said.

EU is offering to host countries 6,000 euros (6,780 U.S. dollars) per person to be relocated. Endit