Officials presented the scheme as a boost for states on Europe’s Mediterranean frontier.
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“In an area of free movement without internal borders, managing Europe’s external borders must be a shared responsibility”, said Frans Timmermans, the commission’s first vice president.
The EU unveiled plans on Tuesday for a new border and coast guard agency that could intervene even without the host country’s consent, saying it had to restore security threatened by the refugee crisis.
The Commission’s border proposal has already drawn criticism from some national governments and skeptical MEPs who worry about infringements on national sovereignty. “This is a safety net”.
He added that member states would continue to exercise day-to-day border management. “What we are creating today is more Europe”.
Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the Parliament, defended the border plan.
It seems Greece needs some reassurance about the proposals. “We won’t go for this at all”.
“To manage our external borders, to step up returns of irregular migrants, to allow our asylum system to function properly for this in need and to strengthen checks at the external borders”. “If we have common problems, we must have common answers”.
Frontex, the agency tasked with helping to maintain the zones external security, would be absorbed into a central organisation that also incorporates member states individual border authorities. The country where number of applications have increased year-on-year by 60 percent, and monthly applications doubled between August and September 2015, with a further 60 percent increase in October 2015. In addition, member states will have to put at least a total of 1,500 personnel on standby for deployment within days. “But the way the commission proposed it – for it to be a structure independent from nation states – is astounding”. So from that point of view, the Commission doesn’t seem to consider it a military matter.
The agency also said a total of 1.55 million irregular border crossings into the European Union were registered between January and November.
The proposed new border agency would “oversee the effective function of border control”, carrying out a “supervisory role”.
The European Border and Coast Guard will combine a European Border and Coast Guard Agency formed from Frontex and the authorities of the Member States in charge of border management.
In contrast to Frontex, the new agency would be empowered to respond a crisis without first getting the permission of the country involved.
“And checks on all individuals will now be mandatory when exiting the European Union as well”.
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Europeans who are used to briefly flashing their passports on arrival in the Schengen zone will undergo a full identity check and database matchup, a procedure now limited to non-Europeans. Such grumblers may not have much power when it comes to voting, as the proposal requires only a qualified (weighted) majority among states to pass, rather than unanimous approval.
