Frontex seeks aid for Greece
The European Union?s border monitoring agency Frontex has appealed to EU member states to boost its dwindling budget and help police Greece?s land and sea borders with Turkey, which remain the preferred point of entry for thousands of undocumented immigrants seeking a better life in the bloc.
According to Grigoris Apostolou, the chief of Frontex?s operational headquarters in Athens, letters were sent out recently to all the member states but there have been no positive responses to date. Apostolou said that support is crucial as border patrols have been seriously depleted as part of budget cutbacks by Frontex, noting that there has been no aerial support for the past month. ?So far no member state has offered to participate in the agency?s operations.?
Apostolou said that the influx of would-be migrants over the Turkish border had increased, with 30,000 people detained in the past six months alone.
