company:home affairs

  • European Border and Coast Guard: The Commission welcomes agreement on a standing corps of 10,000 border guards by 2027

    Today, the Council green-lighted the political agreement reached last week to reinforce the European Border and Coast Guard, giving it the right level of ambition to respond to the common challenges Europe is facing in managing migration and borders.

    The centre piece of the reinforced Agency will be a standing corps of 10,000 border guards – ready to support Member States at any time. The Agency will also have a stronger mandate on returns and will cooperate more closely with non-EU countries, including those beyond the EU’s immediate neighbourhood. Agreed in the record time of just over 6 months, the new European Border and Coast Guard represents a step-change in the EU’s ability to collectively better protect Europe’s external borders.

    Welcoming the agreement, First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “In an area of free movement without internal border controls, strengthening and managing Europe’s external borders is a shared responsibility. I am glad to see that a 10,000-strong standing corps with the necessary equipment will help Member States to better protect our borders and our citizens. By working together constructively and swiftly, we can create a safer Europe.”

    Commissioner for Home Affairs, Migration and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos added: “From now onwards, the European Border and Coast Guard will have the full operational capacity and powers needed to effectively and fully support Member States on the ground, at all times. Better controlling our external borders, fighting irregular migration, carrying out returns and cooperating with third countries – we can only succeed if we do this together. Ultimately, this will also help preserve the long-term viability of the Schengen area of free movement.”

    The Agency supports Member States and does not replace their responsibilities in external border management and return. The reinforced European Border and Coast Guard Agency will be equipped with more resources and capabilities including:

    A standing corps of 10,000 border guards: A standing corps of 10,000 border guards will be set up by 2027 and will ensure that the Agency can support Member States whenever and wherever needed. The standing corps will bring together Agency staff as well as border guards and return experts seconded or deployed by Member States, who will support the over 100,000 national border guards in their tasks. In addition, the Agency will have a budget to acquire its own equipment, such as vessels, planes and vehicles.

    Executive powers: The standing corps will be able to carry out border control and return tasks, such as identity checks, authorising entry at the external borders, and carrying out borders’ surveillance – only with the agreement of the host Member State.
    More support on return: In addition to organising and financing joint return operations, the Agency will now also be able to support Member States at all stages of return process with Member States remaining responsible for taking return decisions. This support will include for example by identifying non-EU nationals with no right to stay or acquiring travel documents.
    Stronger cooperation with non-EU countries: The Agency will be able – subject to prior agreement of the country concerned – to launch joint operations and deploy staff outside the EU, beyond countries neighbouring the EU, to provide support on border and migration management.
    Antenna offices: The Agency will be able to set up antenna offices in Member States and in a non-EU country (subject to a status agreement) to support logistically its operational activities and guarantee the smooth running of the Agency’s operations.

    Next steps

    The European Parliament’s LIBE Committee still has to confirm the political agreement reached in trilogues on 28 March. Then both the European Parliament and the Council will have to formally adopt the Regulation. The text will then be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and the European Border and Coast Guard’s enhanced mandate will enter into force 20 days later. The new European Border and Coast Guard standing corps will be available for deployment starting from 2021, once it becomes fully operational and will reach its full capacity of 10,000 border guards by 2027.

    Background

    The European Border and Coast Guard was established in 2016, building on existing structures of Frontex, to meet the new challenges and political realities faced by the EU, both as regards migration and internal security. The reliance on voluntary Member States’ contributions of staff and equipment has however resulted in persistent gaps affecting the efficiency of the support the European Border and Coast Guard could offer to Member States.

    In his 2018 State of the Union Address President Juncker announced that the Commission will reinforce the European Border and Coast Guard even further. The objective of this upgrade was to equip the Agency with a standing corps of 10,000 operational staff and with its own equipment to ensure that the EU has the necessary capabilities in place — constantly and reliably. On 28 March, the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement on the Commission’s proposal, which was confirmed by the Council.

    http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-1929_en.htm
    Après #Frontex, #Frontex_plus (https://seenthis.net/tag/frontex_plus)
    Après Frontex plus, #Frontex_plus_plus

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    Transmis par Marie Martin sur la liste "Migreurop"

    Mardi 25 juin, Cecilia Malström, invitée à l’Institut Universitaire Européen de Florence, a déclaré que la façon dont l’Union européenne avait traité les personnes fuyant les zones de troubles et de combat à la suite des "réveils arabes" constituait une "erreur historique".

    La commissaire a dénoncé à plusieurs reprise les Etats membres qui ont mis en place des politiques migratoires restrictives, malgré les efforts que la Commission pour rendre possible l’accueil d’un plus grand nombre de migrants en Europe.

    Statewatch revient sur cette question :

    http://www.statewatch.org/news/2012/jun/17-migrants-arab-spring.htm

    EU’s rejection of migrants during the Arab Spring: a “historical mistake” according to Commissioner Malström
    After the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Commissioner Malström said that “Europe failed to stand up for democracy, freedom and human rights” as it prioritised securing the border over supporting those who had fought for liberty and democracy.

    Cecilia Malmström, the EU commissioner for Home Affairs, was invited on 25 June to the Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy, to give a keynote speech on “Establishing a European Migration Policy and responding to the Arab Spring: The ways the Migration Policy Centre can support Cecilia Malmström”. [1]

    A year and half after the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, the Commissioner considered that :"Europe failed to stand up for democracy, freedom and human rights" as it prioritised securing the border over supporting those who had fought for liberty and democracy.

    “Europe made a historical mistake. It missed the opportunity to show the EU is ready to defend, to stand up, and to help”.

    In May 2011, the EU reacted to the “risk” of large numbers of displaced people reaching its shores by rapidly deploying humanitarian support in north Africa and engaging its border security apparatus, including the Frontex operation Hermes in the strait of Sicily, and pursuing the development of the EUROSUR system. [2] As argued by Ben Hayes and Mathias Vermeulen in a recent report: "EUROSUR and “smart borders” represent the EU’s cynical response to the Arab Spring". [3]

    Commissioner Malström stressed a number times the difficulty of Member States facilitating “legal” migration, particularly in times of economic crisis, and despite the Commission’s effort to promote a “more equal approach” between the EU and its neighbours.

    Commissioner Malström’s position, which seems to shift the responsibility onto Member States, is questionable. The Treaty of Lisbon gives equal responsibility to the Council and the Parliament in migration and asylum policy aspects, the Commission still retains an initiative power in case of “a sudden inflow of nationals of third countries”.[4] No proposal was made to directly address the humanitarian situation faced at sea and on EU’s territory by those who escaped turmoil and war zones. Instead, the Commission initiated the adoption of a community-based mechanism which would enhance the possibility to reintroduce internal border controls [5], despite the fact this is already possible under the 2006 Schengen Borders Code.

    The Commission also had the power to initiate the use of the Temporary Protection Directive in case of “mass influx” from displaced persons “from a specific country of geographical area”. Yet, the Commission did not consider this option as:

    “At this point we cannot see a mass influx of migrants to Europe even though some of our member states are under severe pressure. The temporary mechanism is one tool that could be used in the future, if necessary, but we have not yet reached that situation”.[6]
    By the end of 2011, crossing the Mediterranean had never proved so deadly for irregular migrants escaping post-revolutionary chaos, discrimination, deprivation and persecution: between 1,500 and 2,000 people were estimated to have died at sea in 2011.[7]

    Sources

    [1] Launching Event of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC), 25/26 June 2012

    Cecilia Malmström attends the opening of the Migration Policy Centre in Florence, 25 June 2012

    [2] "JO Hermes - Situational Update", Frontex, 21 February 2012

    "The EU’s self-interested response to unrest in north Africa : the meaning of treaties and readmission agreements between Italy and north African states"

    Yasha Maccanico (2011) Statewatch analysis

    [3] Ben Hayes & Mathias Vermeulen (2012) Borderline : EU Border Surveillance Initiatives, an assessment of the costs and its impact on fundamental rights

    [4] Steve Peers and Tony Bunyan (2010) Guide to EU decision-making and justice and home affairs after the Treaty of Lisbon, Statewatch publication

    [5] "MEPs suspicious about Schengen rules review", press release, May 2011, European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

    [6] "Debate on migration flows", Cecilia Malström’s blog, 6 April 2011

    [7] "Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea : who is responsible ?" - PACE draft report, Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, Rapporteur : Ms Tineke STRIK, March 2012

    "Migration and revolution", Hein de Haas and Nando Sigona in Forced Migration Review 39 - North Africa and displacement 2011-2012, pp.4-5