EUROPEAN UNION
The European Parliament sees the need to make Frontex less dependent on Member States
The EU Border Guards that Frontex needs by Simon Busuttil MEP, Rapporteur on FRONTEX Legislation, Strasbourg/Brussels The Arab Spring and its effects on migratory flows in the Mediterranean once again woke us up to the reality of how badly Europe needs a common approach in managing its external borders. Even before the events in Tunisia triggered off the Arab Spring in the first place and even long before the Schengen tensions manifested themselves between Italy and France, the European Parliament’s report on Frontex that I presented in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee had already clearly spelt out the kind of Frontex that Europe needs. It should have been obvious for all. But the removal of internal borders within the Schengen area rendered the external borders of EU Member States a matter of common concern and it made the need for an integrated management of external borders even more compelling.
Free movement with secured external borders With 42.672 km of external sea borders and 8.826 km of land borders, the Schengen free-movement area comprises 25 countries (including three non-EU states) enabling free internal travel for nearly half a billion people across the continent. The abolition of internal borders facilitated freedom of movement for citizens in an unprecedented manner. But it was evident that this zone of freedom of movement required a coordinated approach in securing external borders. And whereas external borders should remain open and efficient for bona fide travellers and for people who need protection, they must be closed for cross-border crime and for other illicit activities. This is where Frontex comes in. Set up in 2004, the agency has faced a rapidly changing scenario in migratory flows at the Union’s external borders over the past years. It has been active in several land, air and sea joint operations. But its effectiveness has not reached expected levels. There are a number of reasons why this was the case.
Frontex was too dependent on Member States One of the recurring problems was that Frontex was too dependent on Member States for the success of its missions. In particular it depended on them to “lend” their personnel and equipment for its missions. If they failed to live up to the pledges − and they invariably did − the missions failed or lacked effectiveness. Indeed, the participation of Member States in Frontex missions has been patchy and pledges for equipment low. Another problem was the lack of cooperation from third countries. A mission in the proximity of a third country can hardly
Simon Busuttil MEP Simon Busuttil has been a Member of the European Parliament from Malta since 2004. A lawyer by profession, he specialised in European Affairs and has followed EU affairs since 1994. Before being elected to the European Parliament, he led the public communications campaign ahead of Malta’s referendum on EU membership and was a member of Malta’s negotiating group. As a MEP he leads the European People’s Party (EPP) in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee and covers issues that include the common European immigration and asylum policy.
be effective if that third country refuses to cooperate. Overall these shortcomings seriously hampered the efficiency and impact of the Agency. The European Parliament has always provided the necessary support to the Agency, notably through significant budget increases over the years.
The EP always supported the Agency Parliament has also repeatedly called for improvements in the Agency’s enabling legislation in order to address its shortcomings and improve its efficiency. Thus, when the European Commission put forward proposals to revamp the agency’s founding law in 2010, we welcomed it. We proceeded to prepare our own amendments to the law in order to reflect the Parliament’s expectations. We did so on the basis of several consultation meetings with the agency itself, with individual Member States, organisations representing migrants’ interests as well as with the Commission itself. The result was a report that put together more than 100 amendments to the law.
The EP’s main proposals and the state of play At the time of writing we are in the process of negotiating a compromise with the Council of Ministers, through the socalled trilogues. We are trying to reach a first reading agreement under the Hungarian Presidency because we understand the urgency of getting this law through. There are several new proposals on the table. I will here limit myself to mentioning the main issues which are being negotiated with Council. These are the following: • European Border Guards First of all we want to give the agency the political visibility that it deserves. When national border guards from different
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