Eurocrats have forked out to have their own “standing corps” to patrol the bloc’s frontiers after Brexit – including its border with Britain. The new troops could be deployed in the English Channel to tackle people smuggling between the UK and France. Its creation has been hailed as a huge integrationist step towards a full-blown EU superstate.
But eurosceptics have warned the new armed border guards are a “sinister development” in the growth of the bloc’s centralised powers.
Brussels announced its border agency Frontex would sport new flag-emblazoned uniforms in a bizarre promotional video earlier this year.
The suit, which comes complete with a navy-style hat, features a large EU flag on the right shoulder.
Guards will be issued with a variety of matching clobber, including underwear, swimsuits, flip-flops and branded T-shirts.
Brussels will initially order 1,000 of each item rising eventually to 5,000, according to a tender document for their production.
German MEP Gunnar Beck said the unveiling of the uniform looked like “a parody of the film Starship Troopers”.
He added: “When you realise it’s from the official EU border agency it becomes far more sinister.
“Management of borders should be conducted by the elected politicians of our sovereign countries, not unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels.
“Now the UK has left the main voice against the build-up of EU military power has gone. This is a worrying sign we’re marching towards an EU superstate.”
Plans for the federalist European Border and Coast Guard were drawn up by former EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in response to the 2015 migrant crisis.
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Frontex is already one of the EU’s most controversial agencies.
The bloc’s anti-fraud watchdog ins investigating it for the harassment of migrants and illegal pushback at the bloc’s external borders.
Frontex said: “This contract will ensure the continuity of the already existing (short term) supply solutions for a mid-period until 2025 for only one part of the standing corps equipment, which are the uniforms.”
