Frontex is building its own Standing Border Guard Corps to work on border security, border control and deportations. This should be 10,000 persons strong by 2027, though recruitment and training is lagging behind. Frontex wants this corps to be armed, and is in the process of purchasing firearms, but the legal grounds for this are still unclear.

Mid-May Frontex started a tender procedure for the purchase of 2,500 9 x 19 mm semi-automatic pistols and over 3,6 million rounds of ammunition for its border guard corps. It expects to spend €5 million on this in the next two years, with the possibility to prolong the contract for two more years. Other items on the shopping list are bulletproof vests, rubber and telescopic battons and cans of lachrymatory agents. Continue reading “Firearms for Frontex”