Frontex to get new headquarters in Warsaw

Frontex, the EU’s border and coast guard agency, will get a new EUR-140 million headquarters in Warsaw.

The European Parliament’s budget committee agreed to the new offices for Frontex, which is already based in the Polish capital, on Wednesday.

Frontex’s Peter Christiaens argued that as the agency’s duties had expanded it needed more people and more room.

"Frontex needs adequate infrastructure to better respond to various situations on the external borders," he said at the committee meeting. "Based on preliminary analyses, the agency needs 70,000 square metres more space for more than 2,000 new employees. The investment cost is estimated at (EUR) 140 million".

"The construction of a new building has been made cheaper by the Polish authorities providing Frontex with an appropriate plot of land free of charge," he continued, adding that the new building should be ready in 2026.

The cost of the project is to be covered by a loan granted to Frontex by the European Investment Bank.

The agency set up in 2004 Frontex aims to help EU states and Schengen associated countries protect the external borders of the EU's area from the free movement of people. As an EU agency, Frontex is financed by the EU budget and contributions from Schengen associated countries.