Today, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri, together with the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, Italian Minister of Interior Angelino Alfano, Central Director for Immigration and Border Police Giovanni Pinto inaugurated the opening of the new premises of the European Regional Task Force (EURTF) in Catania, Sicily.
The ceremony also included Director General of Public Security, Head of National Police Alessandro Pansa, Mayor of Catania Enzo Bianco and the heads of three other EU Agencies – European Asylum Support Office (EASO), Europol and the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) - as well as of EUNAVFOR MED Operation SOPHIA.
Frontex has recently concluded all necessary agreements with the municipality of Catania in order to be able to host other EU Agencies in the EURTF premises. Frontex offers its European partners the secure offices with modern equipment and computer networks.
“I would like to stress that our agencies have already been working here in Catania for a year, but now the local authorities have given us the premises from which our agencies can work more efficiently,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
“The extraordinary migratory pressure on Italy and Greece has clearly demonstrated that it is a European challenge which requires a European response,” he added.
The EURTF was set up in June 2015 as part of the hotspot approach recommended by the European Commission’s Agenda on Migration to coordinate the work of the EU agencies involved in the management of migration crises in the most affected member states.
The office in Catania currently hosts 20 officers from Frontex, EASO, EUROPOL and EUNAVFOR Med. The six Frontex officers at EURTF are working closely with the Italian authorities responsible for operational coordination, intelligence-gathering and the fight against people smuggling and human trafficking networks.
In the framework of operation Triton Frontex supports the Italian authorities with border surveillance and participation in search and rescue operations, as well as with registration and identification of migrants. Frontex currently deploys ten vessels and patrol boats, four aircraft, two helicopters and 334 officers. Twenty-five EU member states take part in this operation.
“The aim of the EURTF is to bring EU agencies closer to the areas most affected by heavy migratory flows,” Leggeri said.
EURTF will also provide logistical and operational support both to the experts and technical equipment deployed in Frontex-coordinated joint operation Triton and Europol-led Joint Operational Team MARE, which focuses on organised crime groups involved in migrant smuggling by boat across the Mediterranean Sea.