Split hosts a Frontex maritime border protection exercise
The first maritime border protection exercise, titled “Securing Europe’s External Borders: European Border and Coast Guard“, by the new agency succeeding Frontex, was conducted in Split on 11 October 2016.
The Exercise was initiated by the Ministry of the Interior in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
The Exercise was attended by the Croatian Defence Minister Josip Buljević,the Minister of the Interior Vlaho Orepić, the Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri, the General Police Director Zvonimir Vnučec and other participants of the meeting and representatives of the Frontex member nations, of the Croatian Navy and the Coast Guard.
The Croatian Defence Minister Josip Buljević expressed satisfaction with the Exercise conduct, which proved Croatia’s ability to defend the outer borders of the European Union in co-operation with the EU bodies. The Minister praised the demonstrated interoperability and the level of co-ordination and mastery of procedures.
TheCroatian maritime protection forces have demonstrated the ability and readiness to operate within the European border police, said the Minister of the Interior. The Exercise conducted today in Split demonstrates Croatia was included in the creation and implementation of the EU. Common Security and Defence Policy.
“The importance of the exercise, which tested the interoperability of various services, lies in the fact that Europe intends to enhance the co-ordination among the various agencies along the maritime borders“, said the Frontex Executive Director, Fabrice Leggeri. Frontex has proved to the readiness to protect the European borders, said its Director.
The Assistant Head of Border Police Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, Zoran Ničeno explained the Exercise scenario. The Exercise engaged 140 participants whose job continuously exposes them to the threats reacreated, either in the joint operations with the Frontex and in routine operation in the maritime border protection.
The objective of the Exercise was to display the readiness and ablity to protect the EU outer borders from possible threats (e.g. terrorist threats, prevention of human smugglers and of illegal migrations).
The Exercise was planned by the Ministry of the Interior and the Croatian Navy (based on the design by Ministry of the Interior) and comprised two scenarios:
the first scenario involved the procedures to apply upon noticing illegal migrants aboard the vessel and the second the response to the seaborne terror. The exercise engaged the Operations Centres of the Ministry of the Interior and of the Armed Forces (the NAvy Operations Centre and the Coast Guard Operations Centre), the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rijeka, the special police forces, the police and the Coast Guard vessels and the aircraft of the Croatian Armed Forces.
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