EU to launch controversial new border force plan

The new force will compromise of aircraft, unmanned drones, ships and have a standing border troop of 1,500 officers, ready to be deployed at three days’ notice to plug gaps in the Schengen zone’s external border.

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.

“This is a safety net which, like all safety nets, we hope will never need to be used”.

While presenting the proposed law, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament that more than 1.5 million people had entered the EU illegally this year: They did not register for asylum, nor did they have visas or residency permits. Whatever the final agreement today, the European Union must ensure that protection of borders does not come at the expense of the EU’s legal and moral duty to protect some of the world’s most desperate people. However, the plan, which aims to give the new border agency a stronger mandate than the EU’s current Frontex border teams, is facing growing opposition from many within the 28-nation bloc.

To boost security for European citizens, the Commission is also proposing to introduce mandatory systematic checks of EU citizens against relevant databases such as the Schengen Information System, the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel Documents Database and relevant national systems at external land, sea, and air borders.

The EU leaders are scheduled to discuss the proposals at a summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

“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”.

In his closing remarks, Home Affairs, Migration and Citizenship Commissioner said that it is impossible to force a country to cooperate with a third country if it has reservations, or force it to accept European troops to assist in an emergency.

Top EU officials insisted Tuesday that they are not interested in curtailing member states’ sovereignty.

In EU-speak, internal borders are those where a person is inside the EU no matter which side of the border he or she is on – such as, for one example, that between Germany and France.

And opinion polls indicate that many Europeans value Schengen more than any other change brought about by the EU. The newly formed body will be responsible for the day-to-day running and management of the external border.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will join leaders of the other 27 European Union member states for the final leaders’ summit of the year, with a discussion on Britain’s renegotiation scheduled to take place this evening. He said that “when we speak about sea borders it is quite clear that the most important thing is to protect human lives”, and added that the best way to address the migrant crisis was to deal with it at the source, by creating “peace and stability” in the refugees’ countries of origin.