A welcome helping hand
The apparently imminent decision by Frontex, the European Union?s border monitoring agency, to change from temporary to permanent the mission of the team of guards it has sent to help patrol the frontier between Greece and Turkey is very welcome news.
This decision shows that the European Union is beginning to see what serious the repercussions the wave of illegal immigrants who cross this border daily can have on Greece, but also on the EU as a whole.
The Greek government has proved unable to mount the kind of border protection operation that is necessary to secure this very porous crossing. Now it will be able to do so with the active support and the expertise of European border guards. The proposed construction of a 12.5-kilometer fence along one of the most vulnerable sections of the border should also prove a useful tool in stemming the flow of undocumented migrants into Greece.
The combination of these factors is positive and will hopefully have a noticeable effect in reducing the amount of illegal immigration into Europe.
