Canarias
Frontex will not patrol the Canary Islands on a permanent basis
By m.p
Jun 11, 2007 - 10:02 PM

There was news on Monday that the Frontex patrols of waters near the Canary Islands will not remain in place on a permanent basis, as was announced at the beginning of April by the then-Canary Islands President, Adán Martín.

The Canaries newspaper, La Opinión, carried a report on Monday that the European Union borders control agency says that technical reasons and budget restrictions prevent that from going ahead.

Gil Arias, Frontex’s Deputy Director, told EFE that the cost of maintaining a dual air and sea patrol amounts to 3,700 € an hour, and that it would eat up their 35 million € budget for this year.

He said Frontex patrols will stop once the permanent European Border Patrols Network begins its work to combat illegal immigration on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast, but cannot remain in place until that time. He also said the EBPN would not be specific to Spain.

Gil Arias was unable to say how long the Canaries Frontex patrols will continue this year, but did say that they will continue for ‘some time’ and will be halted for the absolute minimum while assessment takes place of the resources available to allow the operational plan for the next phase to go ahead.