EU to extend its Greece anti-immigration mission

The EU’s Frontex mission on the border between Greece and Turkey is to be extended by two months after first results were deemed a resounding success.

The first Frontex Rapid Border Intervention Team (Rabit), deployed at the beginning of November, is thought to have been a factor in a 43 per cent reduction, from the previous month, in the number of border crossings by illegal immigrants from Turkey. EU guards arrested more than 4,000 immigrants caught trying to move into EU territory illegally.

A total of 175 border guards, two of them from Malta’s army, are taking part in the mission under the command of the Greek authorities. The EU border guards are patrolling the narrow river crossing and frozen fields between the frontier villages of Nea Vyssa and Orestiada in far north eastern Greece.

“It is too early to talk about the impact of the operation,” said Frontex deputy executive director Gil Arias Fernandez during a press briefing in Brussels.

“While the decrease may be due to the number of factors, such as seasonal fluctuations, bad weather conditions or other reasons, it is nevertheless significant,” he said.

Greece had asked for the intervention of EU border guards following an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants crossing into its territory from Turkey. It is estimated that this year more than 30,000 immigrants made the crossing. Many of them end up living and working illegally on the continent.