Ukraine: EC proposes further Frontex support for migration management in Moldova
The European Commission (EC) has recommended to the Council of the EU to open negotiations for a status agreement between Frontex and the Republic of Moldova, the Commission said on March 10.
The status agreement will allow Frontex to support Moldovan border guards to effectively manage the current situation at the border with Ukraine.
More than 250 000 people who have fled the war in Ukraine have sought safety in Moldova.
Moldovan border guards are facing challenges both in view of the high number of people fleeing the war and sharing a border with an active war zone, the EC said.
This agreement will specifically allow for the deployment of Frontex teams to carry out border management tasks including registration and border checks, led by Moldovan authorities to respond to these challenges.
A status agreement will strengthen the current cooperation between Frontex and Moldova which is based on a working arrangement concluded in 2008 and will have a positive impact on border management in Moldova, in Romania as well as on the overall management of the EU’s external borders, the EC said.
European Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič is currently in Romania to meet the authorities and coordinate EU assistance to people arriving from Ukraine.
Lenarčič went to the Ukrainian border, at the Siret crossing point, to assess the situation on the ground.
He also visited the new EU civil protection logistics hub in Suceava, where four truckloads of medicines destined for Ukraine arrived from Italy yesterday.
In order to efficiently manage this exceptionally high volume of deliveries, logistics platforms have been set up in Poland and Romania with the support of the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre, the EC said.
These platforms will bring together the aid offered by EU countries and channel it to Ukraine.
All EU member states, plus Norway and Turkey, have now offered assistance to Ukraine through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
The aid includes more than 80 million items such as first aid kits, shelter materials, firefighting equipment, water pumps, electric generators and fuel.
This is the largest activation of the mechanism ever recorded, and the EU continues to receive new offers every day, the EC said.
The neighbouring countries, namely Moldova, Poland and Slovakia, have also requested assistance through the mechanism due to the massive influx of people fleeing war and several EU countries have responded by offering shelter, medicine, emergency kits sanitation and electric generators, the Commission said.
(Archive photo: Frontex)
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