Frontex expected to move agent training centre from Spain to Portugal

Frontex, the European Union’s (EU) border police agency, is preparing to move an agent training centre from Spain to Portugal, reports El Mundo.

According to the Spanish daily, which cites sources close to the organisation, the move is being seen in the neighbouring country as a step backwards both in terms of internal immigration policy and Spain’s influence on the international scene.

The European agency has reportedly chosen to leave the centre of the National Police Training and Improvement Division in Ávila, in the community of Castilla León, which in June will host its last training course for Frontex agents, in order to later set up a training centre in Portugal.

The courses in Spain took place every six months, with around 100 students from 16 European countries being trained there to later join the agency’s permanent staff.

According to the Spanish newspaper, at the end of each course, Frontex officials evaluated whether or not to keep the country’s training centre, and after two years, they concluded that Spain no longer met their requirements, and decided to move to Portugal.