Frontex Poised to Deploy in Ceuta and Melilla if Spain Requests Border Support

The European agency Frontex, which intends to strengthen its permanent action in order to better monitor the borders and coasts of the EU, is willing to send personnel to Ceuta and Melilla if Spain makes the request. This is what Fabrice Leggeri, director of the agency, said in an interview with La Razón.

"We have the capacity to act immediately in Ceuta and Melilla if Spain asks us to. To date, 250 Frontex agents are deployed on the Andalusian coast as part of the Índalo mission. Part of this workforce can be transferred to Ceuta and Melilla at any time if Spain requests it," Leggeri explained.

"At the moment, our main objective is to develop the permanent corps of action which, according to the objective of the European Commission, should have up to 10,000 soldiers by 2027. We have already recruited 600 soldiers ready to be deployed on the ground and about 200 soldiers who are currently undergoing training at the Avila police school," added the director of Frontex, who specifies that before being operational, "all the personnel involved in field operations receive training on fundamental rights and access to international protection".

Leggeri also notes that migration flows to the EU have increased by 15% compared to 2020. "We have noticed that EU border countries like Turkey, Belarus or Morocco are using illegal immigration as a weapon to destabilize the EU," he points out.