New border guard HQ sparks off quarrels between Warsaw and EU
13:23
The status of a new border guard agency that is to replace Frontex is provoking a squabble between Warsaw and Brussels, The Financial Times said.
The European Commission wants to keep the headquarters of the new agency in Warsaw and make it a subject of a so-called headquarters agreement — something that the Polish government has refused to sign with Frontex since it settled in Warsaw in 2005.
The agreement determines the status of the agency's workers, whether their children have access to international schools, how costs are split, etc. The legal basis concerning Frontex's HQ in Warsaw expired in 2007, meaning that Poland can shut it down without notice.
Poland’s foreign minister said on Monday that while he believed replacing Frontex with a stronger entity is necessary, the Polish government did not support the idea of bureaucrats being able to take control of national borders.
