Frontex The second major sponsor of Greece’s irregular migration control policies in the period 20082013, was Frontex. Established in 2004 by the European Council40, Frontex was destined to act as a specialized expert body that would co-ordinate Member States in the field of external border management. While the primary responsibility for control and surveillance at the external borders would continue to lie with each Member State, Frontex would facilitate co-operation. Through this role, Frontex was mandated to undertake a wide range of activities and co-finance certain operations and projects.41 The financial contribution provided by Frontex is not known. During the period 2008-2013, Greece appears to have been awarded a total of EUR 26,585,074 in Frontex grants42, with the biggest share allocated for the protection of the sea border. However, compared to the support of the Commission, Frontex’s financial assistance has been significantly more modest. For instance, in 2013, Frontex' direct contribution covered according to the Ministry of Mercantile Marine only 4,7% of Greece’s annual expenditures to manage its external sea borders.43 Additionally to these direct grants, Frontex has provided indirect financial contribution to Greece, by means of operational assistance and capacity building. In terms of size and cost, the most expensive undertaking has been the Poseidon Project; reportedly, Frontex’ biggest operational activity thus far 44. Poseidon is a joint operation program, which has been running continuously since 2008, extended today to cover both Greek land and sea borders. If we take into account the grants awarded to all EU Member States in the context of this operation, then the Poseidon Land and Poseidon Sea appear to have cost about EUR 83,873,060 from 2008 to 2013. However, this is a speculative sum since the precise cost is not known. 45 40 See Council of the European Union, “Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 of 26 October 2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Co-Operation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union”, 25 November 2004, available at http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/About_Frontex/frontex_regulation_en.pdf 41 Its main duties include (a) co-ordination of operational cooperation among Member States;(b) training activities for national border guards;(c) risk analyses in the field of border management;(d) development of scientific research on border surveillance;(e) technical and operational assistance at external borders when required;(f) assistance in the organization of joint return operations, see Council Regulation No 2007/2004 42 Based on our own calculations from the 2008-2013 Tables on Awarded Grants available at the Frontex website: http://frontex.europa.eu/about-frontex/governance-documents/ 43 Data provided by Ministry of Mercantile Marine, 4 September 2014 44 See Ministry of Exterior website, “Frontex: Common European Operations”, last updated 1 April 2011, available at http://www.mfa.gr/exoteriki-politiki/i-ellada-stin-ee/europaikos-horos-dikaiosinis-eleutherias-kaiasfaleias.html?page=5 45 The precise cost is not known since Frontex’s Headquarters were unable to answer all our queries. The sum is based on our own calculations, by adding up the sums from the 2008-2013 Tables on Awarded Grants, which were then juxtaposed to the Archive of Operations available at http://frontex.europa.eu/operations/archive-of-operations/ . The Poseidon Program was hosted by both Greece and Bulgaria. The available data do not allow us however to distinguish which country spent what sums. Page 22