EU border agency begins deployment in North Macedonia

By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES
Associated Press

The European Union’s border protection agency Frontex has begun its official deployment in North Macedonia Thursday, extending its operations outside the bloc to a fifth country. More than 100 border guards will assist national patrols along the country’s southern border with Greece, where illegal smuggling activity has picked up after pandemic restrictions were eased last year. The agency already has operations in four other countries outside the EU: in Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia.