Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Supra-national border guard system on EU radar

  • Frontex guards pose for media on the Greek-Turkish border (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

The European Commission is looking into long-term plans to create an entirely new EU border guard service with an independent command and control centre.

While details are scant, a EU source said setting up such a supra-national border agency that goes beyond the remit of the current EU border agency Frontex would be twenty years in the making.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“We are talking about 2030 or 2035 so this is really a long term development,” noted the contact.

A commission financed feasibility study completed over the summer has put forward a three-phase approach in creating the so-called European System of Border Guards.

Each successive phase is a step forward in centralising control and surveillance of the EU’s borders to an agency manned by EU personnel, which is independent from the respective national authorities.

Phase one calls for greater interaction between member states and the EU in terms of co-operation and decision-making on border control issues.

Phase two places emphasis on shifting decision-making to the EU level. An intermediary European border guard corps would be introduced at this stage.

The final phase is the most far-reaching.

Also known as “full integration at EU level”, it entails setting up an entirely new agency - the committee on Schengen border management (CSBM).

The new body would be composed of border guards under a EU-level command structure.

The study notes that all border guards, previously acting under the command and control of national authorities, would now form part of the European border guard corps.

The EU border agency Frontex, under this final model, would primarily be tasked to conduct intelligence gathering and manage resources like personnel and equipment.

“The agency [Frontex] would collect the relevant information for strategic analysis through surveillance tools and daily border control activities performed by the EBC [ European border corps],” notes the study.

It would be a complete departure from Frontex, which currently has to ask member states for border guards and equipment.

“The European border guard system is a completely different thing,” said a Frontex spokesperson.

The notion is not new and has been discussed on previous occasions.

Member states, in a June council meeting, had backed the idea of having an EU-wide border guard system to enhance border controls and surveillance.

The idea surfaced again earlier this week when EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos spoke about creating a European System of Border Guards in a speech delivered at the European Security Forum 2014.

“Together with the relevant actors at the EU level, I will be exploring the creation of a European System of Border Guards,” he said on Monday (17 November).

The full implications of the study and the future of EU border control is temporarily on hold until an on-going review into Frontex has been finalised.

“The outcome of this evaluation, together with the results of the feasibility study on the creation of a EU System of border Guards, conducted on behalf of the Commission, will feed into the policy debate,” a commission official said in an email.

The evaluation is set for completion sometime mid-2015.

Data retention issue stymies EU air passenger bill

Attempts to finalise the EU-wide passenger name records bill by the end of year seems unlikely, given top MEPs' divided views on its conformity with a recent Luxembourg verdict.

EU ministers to discuss 'smart borders'

EU ministers in Luxembourg Thursday will discuss how to use technology and whether to set up an EU border guard corps to better secure external borders.

EU ministers call for more border checks

EU interior ministers have called for changes to the passport-free Schengen area to allow for "systematic checks" of personal data to fight terrorism.

MEPs fast-track EU border guard plan

EU parliament gives thumbs up to controversial plan for new border guard force that can be deployed to EU states even if they do not want it. Force could be operational by autumn.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  2. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  3. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  4. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  5. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  6. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  7. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  8. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us