Brussels, 28/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - EU member states are prepared to send 200 border guards to help Greece secure its border with Turkey, through which many illegal migrants flow. This action, under the aegis of the European external borders agency, Frontex, was announced on Wednesday 27 October by the Belgian presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.
Annemie Turtelboom, Belgian Home Minister, said during a meeting with the press in Brussels that a total of 200 border guards may be mobilised, but that it was not known whether Greece required that number. “Frontex is preparing operational plans and we are waiting for it to tell us what its needs are”, she explained.
Greece called on the European Union on Sunday 24 October to deploy surveillance patrols along the Greek-Turkish border, through which an unprecedented number of illegal migrants have come in recent months. The European Commission promised to do everything possible to deploy these teams as quickly as possible (see EUROPE 10243).
For now, “five Belgian police officers are ready to leave” for this operation, said Turtelboom, specifying that Germany planned to make 25 border guards available, in addition to the other countries. France, for its part, has decided to immediately deploy all border guards that make up the national contribution to the rapid intervention border teams, French Immigration Minister Eric Besson announced on Tuesday.
This would be the first time that these teams, known as RABITs (Rapid Border Intervention Teams), would be deployed at the request of a member state.
“Part of the Greek border is no longer protected - a 12-km portion between Greece and Turkey”, Turtelboom said, explaining: “It is certainly in our interest to make sure the Greek border is well protected”. She went on to point out, however, that deployment of the RABITs will only last until the Greeks are able to resume control of their borders. “The aim is not to send them to Greece for ever”, Annemie Turtelboom said.
Placed under the coordination of Frontex, border guards taking part in rapid border intervention teams are deployable for a limited time and during exceptional and urgent situations only, in countries that have to face the problem of sudden and massive immigrant flows. They may assist national border guards in their border control missions, major emergencies, translation, risk assessment and the identification of persons. According to Frontex, over three quarters of the 40,977 people intercepted at EU borders during the first quarter of 2010 entered via Greece, mainly from Turkey. Migrants from Maghreb and West Africa now enter alongside Afghans, Pakistanis and Somalis, as this route also attracts those for whom the Spanish and Italian borders are closed. The vast majority of these immigrants are economic refugees exploited by people-smuggling networks. (B.C./transl.jl)