Malta will be asked to contribute personnel or resources to an EU rapid intervention team that will be deployed to the Greece-Turkey border within the next few days as the Greek authorities struggle to cope with an overwhelming influx of illegal immigrants.
It will be the first time the Frontex rapid border intervention team will be engaged since it was established in 2007. The decision was taken on Monday by the EU after an official call for help from Greece on Sunday night.
According to the Greek authorities, hundreds of illegal immigrants are crossing every day through an unmanned 12-kilometre stretch of the border with Turkey and Greek border guards can no longer control the situation. The intervention teams, coordinated by the EU’s immigration agency Frontex, are designed to provide temporary but rapid operational assistance to a member state facing exceptional pressure on its external borders due to a high number of migrants trying to enter irregularly. A team can only be deployed following a request by a member state.
An EU official said the operational programme for the Greece mission was being drawn up and could be concluded within days. Malta would either be asked to send troops or provide resources or expertise.
“At the moment, we are not in a position to state what we will be asking member states to provide because we are still studying the Greek needs,” the official said.
“However, Malta will be asked to assist as this is a problem affecting all the EU member states and, particularly, those on the southern borders.”
Malta recently sent army personnel to Greece to take part in a border control mission called Poseidon.
Addressing the Brussels press, the Commission’s Justice spokesman said it was estimated that this year alone about 30,000 illegal immigrants had so far managed to enter Greece.
“Greece is by far the worst hit member state this year where it comes to illegal immigration and it is evident it cannot cope on its own.”
Since the start of a joint sea-border operation between Libya and Italy last year, Malta has seen the number of illegal immigrants arriving on its shore almost disappear. Due to this favourable scenario, Malta last April asked Frontex not to put in place its usual anti-immigration patrol mission monitoring the high seas between Libya and Sicily because it didn’t feel the need for the mission any longer.
Recent EU studies show that, due to the increased surveillance on the central Mediterranean route (Libya-Malta-Sicily), illegal immigrants are shifting their attempts to enter Europe through other corridors, particularly through the Turkish-Greek border.
The EPP’s spokesman for Frontex, Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil, urged the agency to respond immediately to Greece’s call, saying it was “in all our interests” to help the country protect its external border.