Visegrad know-how bolsters Frontex

A Hungarian and a Croat, both committed to stopping illegal migration, have been appointed to the Frontex Management Board.

POLITICS APRIL 11. 2021 11:01

Notable changes have taken place in the Management Board of the Frontex European Border and Coast Guard Agency with two new members appointed who are strongly in favour of stopping illegal immigration.
 

One of them is Zoran Niceno, director of the Croatian border police, who at the time permitted the arrest of some MEPs of the Italian Democratic Party who intended to help migrants at the Croatian-Bosnian border.

The position of the Croatian government and the border police on illegal immigration is comperable to that of the Visegrad Four Group: the borders must be closed and illegal migrants must be prevented from entering the European Union.

Croatia has a key role in protecting the EU s external border from migrants arriving from Serbia and Bosnia along the Balkan route.

In addition to the Croatian specialist, the Deputy Chief for Law Enforcement of Police of Hungary, Zsolt Halmosi, was also appointed to the Frontex Management Board. Halmosi, like Niceno, calls for the strongest possible action to be taken against illegal migrants.

Frontex has been headed by Frenchman Fabrice Leggeri for years. Under his leadership the agency has been heavily criticised by leftist and liberal-leaning groups seeking to legalise illegal migration, for curbing the influx of foreign nationals from Turkey in 2020. Turkish authorities released thousands of migrants across the Greek border last March to put pressure on Brussels. Instead of caving to the blackmail, the Greek government of Kiryakos Mitsotakis, closed off both land and sea borders in a joint effort of the military, police force and Frontex. This prevented the influx of migrants into the continent similar to the one experienced between 2015 and 2016.

 
 
 

POLITICS

Tags:

croatia, frontex, migration, visegrad four