EU plans fully-fledged external border force

There have been repeated calls by EU leaders to step up efforts to police external borders as almost a million people looking for refuge enter the bloc, according to figures by the UN’s refugee agency.

However, handing over a core sovereign power from member states to the EU, with the commission, the bloc’s executive, deciding to deploy the new border force, might be a tough sell.

It will have to be agreed by the EU member states, and in the process the proposal might be watered down.

Just last week Greece accepted the EU’s help in foreign border guards patrolling the Aegean islands, but only after much foot-dragging, and following threats that they might be pushed out of the Schengen passport-free zone.

The EU Commission is to set out the proposal, pushed by Germany and France next week (15 December), ahead of the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

Frontex, the EU’s current border control agency based in Warsaw, can only co-ordinate border protection, not enforce it. The proposed beefed-up border force would have its own border guards and equipment, and would not need to rely on member states’ contributions.

The new force would be a permanent border and coast guard with a pool of 2,000 staff that could be deployed within days.

It would not need an invitation from the member state it is set to be deployed to, ultimately the EU Commission would decide on their mobilisation after consulting member states.

The new border guard force would operate in countries that are part of the border-free travel zone, Schengen. It includes non-EU Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, but does not include the UK and Ireland.

Weak external border controls have prompted questions about the Schengen area’s viability, a prized achievement of the bloc, as migrants and refugees manage to travel freely once they enter the EU.

Some have argued that only a commonly managed external border control system can save the Schengen passport-free travel zone.