Frontex, the European Union’s external borders agency, looks set to give the green light for its team of guards to remain on Greece’s northeastern frontier with Turkey on a permanent basis. This was decided on Thursday. Sources in Brussels, as daily Kathimerini reports, suggested that a team of some 200 border guards from various European Union countries will be stationed in Evros. They will be stationed a permanent basis to help Greek authorities patrol one of the main points of entry for illegal immigrants, not just into Greece but into the European Union.
Greek authorities had appealed to Frontex to bolster its presence at the country’s land and sea borders, with the aim of averting a possible influx of immigrants from Egypt and other North African countries. Members of the Frontex force first arrived in Evros last October. At that time, the EU border guards were making an average of 245 arrests a day. This figure fell to just under 100 last month.
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