The EU border agencies are experimenting with new high-tech surveillance equipment to detect migrant ships, just as the Taliban militants’ rapid victory in Afghanistan may lead to a surge in the number of people fleeing to Europe.
The camera-equipped balloon system is being tested at Alexandroupolis Airport and Lemnos Island near the Greek-Turkish land border in northeastern Greece, in order to allow border officials to see approaching ships more clearly.
It was planned before the Taliban made recent progress in Afghanistan, and this is part of a broader effort that includes an analysis of new pressures from the region.
Frontex spokesperson Piotr Switalski said: “Of course, we are observing and tracking developments, especially in Afghanistan and Tunisia, which may have an impact on the flow of migrants to the European Union.”
The integrated combination of cameras and thermal vision sensors with ship transponders and satellite communication links enables officials to view 60 kilometers (40 miles) of ocean in real time, covering 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles).
“Because of this innovative system, border surveillance in the sea should be greatly improved,” he said.
More than 400 Frontex officials and dozens of vehicles, some of which are equipped with Hot Vision technology, and 8 patrol boats, are stationed in Greece, which has been on the front line of the immigration crisis.
Both the agency and the Greek Coast Guard have been charged that Greece expelled immigrants from Turkey while the border agency was sitting idly by, but both denied wrongdoing.
As the fighting intensified, some EU countries have stopped forcing Afghans who have been denied asylum to return. But Greek Immigration Minister Notis Mitarachi said this week that the EU cannot cope with another major immigration crisis.
Frontex said the number of irregular immigrants entering the European Union through the western Balkans has almost doubled this year after slowing down due to the coronavirus lockdown last year.
Switalski said the number of people arriving in Greece surged in July, with about 1,000 detections.
From January to July, 22,600 migrants were found to have entered the European Union illegally through the Western Balkans. This number is far below the 2015 level when there were more than 1 million people, mainly from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, and passing through Greece.
However, what Switalski described as the “tricky” geopolitical situation in the EU’s surrounding areas has aggravated fears of recurrence, which may put pressure on the welfare system and intensify strong political opposition to immigration.
