France and Greece have jointly written to the Spanish government, which holds the presidency of the EU, calling for an upgrade of the powers of the EU's border control agency Frontex. The letter was written ahead of a meeting today of EU Home Affairs Ministers.

Greek Citizens Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoides and France's Minister of Immigration and Integration, Eric Besson, called for closer collaboration between Frontex, countries of origin and transit countries and regular charter return flights paid for by Frontex.

Malta has been making similar proposals.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Gutteres, who is visiting Greece, said he recognised the problems which immigration put on Greece and called for more substantial EU support.

He said however that the Greek system of processing applications for asylum was 'as bad as it could be.'

Greece has some 44,000 pending applications for asylum and is in the process of setting up an independent asylum agency.

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