Germany said it will not withdraw its Frontex border agents from Greece despite the growing coronavirus pandemic. Greece had asked the EU border agency to increase its support in bolstering its border with Turkey in early March.
According to the Turkish government, some 6,000 migrants waiting at the Turkish-Greek border to cross into the European Union were sent to cities inside the country. The move is reportedly one of several measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The EU agency Frontex has reported that the number of irregular border crossings on Europe's main migratory routes in January and February 2020 rose by 27% compared to the same period last year.
The European border and coast guard agency Frontex announced on Friday that it has deployed 100 additional border guards to the Greek land border with Turkey. The additional guards, says Frontex, “are part of a rapid border intervention requested by Greece.”
The Greek government announced it would suspend asylum applications for one month on Sunday, March 1. It said it was invoking an emergency EU clause to do so; but suspending asylum has no basis in international law says the UNHCR.
The EU agency Frontex reported Wednesday that migrant crossings using central Mediterranean routes doubled between December 2019 and January 2020 to about 1,500.
Frontex registered a 46% increase in migrants arriving from Turkey in 2019, despite a deal with the EU to curb migrant influx into the bloc. The agency is also planning a massive new dedicated border force.
EU border agency Frontex said on January 8 that the number of irregular entries by migrants into the EU fell to its lowest since 2013 last year. Entries were down 41% compared to 2018 along the central Mediterranean route.
As 2019 draws to a close, the European border agency Frontex has released its latest reports about fluctuating trends across migrant arrivals to Europe. It found that arrivals were falling in the western and central Mediterranean and growing in the eastern Mediterranean as well as the Balkans.
The European Commission on Tuesday approved a cooperation agreement between Serbia and EU border agency Frontex to manage immigration and tackle crime at the EU's external borders. The European Parliament will have the final say on the accord.
The European Union has adopted regulations that establish its first permanent, stand-alone border security force. The move will increase the bloc's current security forces nearly tenfold.
Europe's border and coastguard agency Frontex is trying to recruit hundreds of people to its new border force. Over the next six weeks, the agency will hire 700 extra guards in the first stage of a major expansion aimed at preventing unwanted migration.