Ministers Back EU 450-Strong Rapid Border Force

[Lex]

COMMANDANT MARECHAUSSEE BLIJFT BESTUURSVOORZITTER FRONTEX

De commandant van de Koninklijke Marechaussee, luitenant-generaal Minze Beuving, is herkozen tot voorzitter van de Raad van Bestuur van het EU-agentschap Frontex. Dit agentschap is belast met het beheer van de operationele samenwerking aan de buitengrenzen van de Europese Unie. Luitenant-generaal Beuving is de eerste voorzitter van het Frontex-bestuur. Hij trad aan op 25 mei 2005. Door de herverkiezing is de commandant Koninklijke Marechaussee opnieuw aangesteld voor een periode van twee jaar.

Het Frontex-bestuur wordt gevormd door de hoofden van de grenspolitie van alle EU-lidstaten en die van Noorwegen, Zwitserland en IJsland. De Raad heeft tot doel namens de Europese Commissie toezicht op het agentschap te houden en richting te geven aan de ontwikkeling hiervan.

Frontex is formeel op 1 mei 2005 opgericht en zetelt in Warschau. Haar hoofdtaak is het beheren van de Europese buitengrenzen. Het agentschap is actief betrokken bij de analyse van informatiestromen en het uitvoeren van risicoanalyses betreffende migratiestromen. Verder biedt Frontex ondersteuning bij onder meer het coördineren van gezamenlijke internationale operaties, de opleiding van nationale grenswachten en het coördineren van de terugkeer van illegale immigranten.

01-03-2007 17:17   
MINDEF

[Lex]

European Union interior ministers on April 20 backed a rapidly deployable force of 450 border guards to help states such as Spain cope with sudden influxes of illegal migrants.
More than 31,000 illegal migrants reached Spain's Canary Islands last year -- six times more than in 2005. Italy and Malta faced similar unprecedented flows and many would-be migrants die on the journey.
"Citizens expect Europe to provide effective protection of its common external borders ... This is why I am pleased to see that we have today succeeded in achieving agreement," German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, chairing the talks, said.
Diplomats said the pool of border guards, to be placed by EU states at the disposal of the bloc's border agency Frontex for emergencies such as massive numbers of migrants arriving by sea, should be fully staffed by the end of the year.
"We plan to start the first training in July and smoothly step up the number of officers so that by the end of the year, the beginning of next year, we have 450 officers," a diplomat said after ministers backed the plan at talks in Luxembourg.
Border guards from several EU countries, wearing EU-flagged armbands, would be deployed within 10 days of a member state requesting help, provided the EU border agency's director gives his green light to the request.
Fleeing poverty, migrants risk voyages of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) from the African coast in the hope of reaching the wealthy 27-nation bloc. Some 6,000 died en route to the Canary Islands last year alone, Spanish officials have said.
At least 60 people died last month after a boat carrying around 120 passengers capsized off the coast of Guinea, state television in the West African country said.
The EU border agency struggled last year to gather a handful of boats, helicopters and experts for the bloc's first joint operations near the Canaries and in the Mediterranean.
Diplomats hope the pool of on-call border guards, combined with a pool of available helicopters and boats, will allow the agency to launch operations much faster. Frontex does not have its own border guards or equipment.
The European Parliament's civil liberties committee has approved the plan, which is expected to be rubber-stamped by the full EU legislature later this month.
The deal also has to be confirmed by parliaments of a few member states, diplomats said on April 20.

By REUTERS, LUXEMBOURG
Posted 04/20/07 16:12