Frontex has received offers of technical equipment and border guards from 15 EU Member States.
The agency foresees a monthly deployment of two ocean patrol vessels, two coastal patrol vessels, two coastal patrol boats, two aircrafts and a helicopter.
”Considering the vast operational area, aerial surveillance will play a key role allowing for early detection” said the Executive Director of Frontex Gil Arias Fernandez. Frontex will operate under the command and control of the Italian authorities and will be working in close coordination with Guardia di Finanza, the Coast Guard and the Navy.
Frontex will also support the Italian authorities in collecting intelligence on the people-smuggling networks operating in Libya and other countries. For that purpose Frontex will also deploy 5 debriefing teams to Italy. “Due to the fact that Libya is a de facto failed state without a functioning law enforcement, people-smuggling networks are flourishing and have become more ruthless’ – added Arias Fernandez.
The monthly budget foreseen for the operation amounts to EUR 2,9 million and the operation is scheduled to begin on November 1st.
‘While I am pleased with the support provided by the EU Member States, Frontex still needs more technical equipment in order for us to be able to fully implement this operation” – said Arias Fernandez. “For this reason, we have made another appeal to the EU Member States for the deployment of technical equipment and we sincerely hope for more participation”.
The following EU countries confirmed the deployment of technical equipment – Finland, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, the Netherlands, Latvia, Malta and France. Debriefers and screeners will be deployed by Spain, France, Finland, Romania, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Austria and Poland.
“According to the mandate of Frontex, the primary focus of operation Triton will be border control, however I must stress that, as in all our maritime operations, we consider saving lives an absolute priority for our agency” added the Frontex Executive Director.