“We stand here barely a week after the Greek authorities turned to Frontex to provide more officers and more equipment to help protect their borders, which are also our common EU external borders. The presence of 100 officers from all around Europe underlines the fact that the protection of the area of the European area of freedom, security and justice is a shared responsibility of all Member States and Frontex,” Frontex executive director Fabrice Leggeri said during the launch of the operation in the Greek town of Orestiada.
“This rapid intervention is an important operational milestone for Frontex, which is currently dedicated to the preparation of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps,” he added.
Expressing their solidarity with Greece, EU member states and Schengen-Associated Countries confirmed their readiness to provide their respective contributions under the Rapid Reaction Pool of Border and Coast Guards and technical assets under the Rapid Reaction Equipment Pool complemented by additional pledges from the Technical Equipment Pool, Frontex says.
As part of Rapid Border Intervention Evros 2020, 100 border guard officers from 22 member states started their deployment yesterday at Greece’s land border.
Member states have also committed themselves to provide technical equipment, including vessels, maritime surveillance aircraft and Thermal-Vision Vehicles, for the Frontex maritime Rapid Border Intervention Aegean 2020.
Before launching the two rapid border intervention operations, Frontex already had more than 500 officers deployed in Greece, along with 11 vessels and other equipment. Two additional Frontex border surveillance planes began to assist Greece from above earlier this week.
The rapid border interventions will last two months and could be extended further if needed, according to the press release.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
