Today, the Frontex Management Board voted to reinforce its existing office in Piraeus by incorporating it into the EU Regional Task Force, as of January 2016.
European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said:
“I very much welcome today’s important decision. FRONTEX will be able to continue increasing the number of officers assisting Greece in its efforts to cope with the unprecedented refugee crisis while ensuring all other operations of the Agency in Greece. Under the reinforced structure we will include a functional platform for the coordination between all EU agencies on the ground: EASO, Europol and Eurojust.”
Currently Frontex deploys 325 officers on the Greek islands, of which 167 officers are supporting identification and registration arriving migrants. The office in Piraeus has currently a staff of five, who will now, under the new structure, be substantially reinforced.