News

Warsaw, March 26, 2011 — Responding to the highly volatile situation in North Africa Frontex extends operational area of its on-going Joint Operation (JO) Poseidon Sea. In the first four weeks of deployment Joint Operation Poseidon Land sees decreasing numbers of arrivals across the land border with Turkey.

In view of potential migratory flows from Libya operational area of JO Poseidon Sea, which covers the Greek islands in the Aegean sea, has been widened to include Crete. On Thursday, 24 March Romanian maritime surveillance vessel and a Portuguese plane were deployed to increase patrolling intensity in this region.

Latest arrival figures from the Evros region show that migratory pressure on the Greek-Turkish land border remains lower than last year. From 1 January 2011 until 24 March 5281 migrants were detected, in comparison with 8054 arrivals just in November and December 2010. Until 24 March there were 1383 detections, which is a slight decrease in comparison with the previous two months (2266 detections in January and 1632 in February). The largest group of migrants who crossed the Greek border in March comes from Afghanistan (24%) followed by migrants from Pakistan (14%), and Bangladesh (12%).

The objectives of the JO Poseidon land are the same as these of the RABIT operation: increased level of border surveillance, increased level of border checks and assistance with de-briefing activities.  JO Poseidon land brings together border guards from 23 EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries.

In relation to increased border control activities coordinated by Frontex at the southern EU borders the European Council concluded last Friday: “...the Commission will make additional resources available in support to the agency's 2011 Hermes and Poseidon operations and Member States are invited to provide further human and technical resources. The EU and its Member States stand ready to demonstrate their concrete solidarity to Member States most directly concerned by migratory movements and provide the necessary support as the situation evolves.”