The European Parliament’s budget committee has approved a €250 million plan to establish new headquarters for the EU border agency Frontex in Warsaw.
The move comes as the agency’s current rental lease expires and Frontex seeks larger premises.
A Frontex note obtained by European news outlet Euractiv said: “The current renting agreements will soon expire, which will force the agency to look for new premises due to its growth.”
It added that as part of the expansion, Polish authorities have donated a plot of land worth over €30 million, in accordance with an EU loan agreement.
Poland’s EU Affairs Minister Adam Szłapka said that strengthening the agency affirms the priorities of the Polish presidency at the Council of the EU, whose motto is “Security, Europe!”
He said: “Issues of security, including guarding and protecting EU borders, which Frontex oversees, are central to our goals.
“It is also important that Frontex's headquarters remain in Warsaw, so supporting this institution is in our national interest.”
The budget committee’s approval saw 23 votes in favor, five against, and 10 abstentions, following a green light from the Council of the EU last week.
The funding comes as Frontex faces mounting scrutiny over its border enforcement practices.
Frontex, which is tasked with monitoring the EU’s external borders, has for many years been accused by human rights groups, including the UN Human Rights Council, of illegal pushbacks and tolerating human rights violations committed by national border authorities.
In December last year, international human rights group Human Rights Watch reported that Polish law enforcement had been illegally and sometimes violently forcing asylum seekers trying to cross into Poland to return to Belarus, disregarding their right to international protection.
But Monika Hohlmeier, budget spokesperson for the European People’s Party (EPP), one of the European parties that voted in favor of the decision, defended the expansion, saying: “Given the increased role that Frontex will have to play in the coming years, it definitely merits the new headquarters."
A Frontex note obtained by European news outlet Euractiv said: “The current renting agreements will soon expire, which will force the agency to look for new premises due to its growth.”
It added that as part of the expansion, Polish authorities have donated a plot of land worth over €30 million, in accordance with an EU loan agreement.
Poland’s EU Affairs Minister Adam Szłapka said that strengthening the agency affirms the priorities of the Polish presidency at the Council of the EU, whose motto is “Security, Europe!”
He said: “Issues of security, including guarding and protecting EU borders, which Frontex oversees, are central to our goals.
“It is also important that Frontex's headquarters remain in Warsaw, so supporting this institution is in our national interest.”
The budget committee’s approval saw 23 votes in favor, five against, and 10 abstentions, following a green light from the Council of the EU last week.
The funding comes as Frontex faces mounting scrutiny over its border enforcement practices.
Frontex, which is tasked with monitoring the EU’s external borders, has for many years been accused by human rights groups, including the UN Human Rights Council, of illegal pushbacks and tolerating human rights violations committed by national border authorities.
In December last year, international human rights group Human Rights Watch reported that Polish law enforcement had been illegally and sometimes violently forcing asylum seekers trying to cross into Poland to return to Belarus, disregarding their right to international protection.
But Monika Hohlmeier, budget spokesperson for the European People’s Party (EPP), one of the European parties that voted in favor of the decision, defended the expansion, saying: “Given the increased role that Frontex will have to play in the coming years, it definitely merits the new headquarters."
Source: PAP, Deutsche Welle, Euractiv, EU Migration Law Blog
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