Frontex starts operations in Greece with 293 officers

Gazzetta team
Frontex starts operations in Greece with 293 officers
Frontex started on Monday the deployment of 293 officers and 15 vessels to the Greek islands as part of the new Poseidon Rapid Intervention operation, which comes after the country requested additional assistance at its external borders in the Aegean earlier this month.

Poseidon Rapid Intervention replaces the Joint Operation Poseidon Sea with a higher number of officers assisting in identifying and fingerprinting arriving migrants, along with interpreters and forged document experts, the organization said in a press release. Poseidon Rapid Intervention aims to provide Greece with additional technical assistance aiming to strengthen its border surveillance, registration and identification capacity.

Frontex said the number of border guards deployed will gradually increase to over 400 officers as well as additional vessels, vehicles and other technical equipment to assist the national authorities in the management of the unprecedented migratory pressure at the Greek external borders.

It should be noted that while participation in Frontex Joint Operations is voluntary, member states are obliged to send border guards for rapid operational assistance deployments, unless they themselves face an exceptional situation substantially affecting the discharge of national tasks.