(Brussels) In the run-up to the special European Council in Malta on February 3rd (two items will be on the agenda: migration and after-Brexit), the European Commission also took stock of the progress made and “what still needs to be done to make the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency fully operational”. There are many aspects to migration: border security, saving lives at sea, reception and social inclusion of migrants, asylum rights, “redistribution” of migrants in sympathy with the EU Mediterranean countries… Well, as far as the border agency is concerned, three months after its launch “important results have been achieved – according to the EU Commission –, such as the establishment of a compulsory quick response reserve of border guards and equipment and the creation of a new reserve for repatriation teams”. Such reserves may be deployed to support the member states, “which are directly responsible for strengthening border control”. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency deployed 1,5550 agents to support the member states at the borders, thus supplementing the existing national capacities, equivalent to over 100 thousand agents. According to the EU Commission, the Agency’s operations “are still deficient, and the member states must take care of properly correcting this”.
The first deputy president, Frans Timmermans, stated: “Following the adoption of the proposed European border and coast guard in record-breaking times, all the parties involved have spent the last three months working at full speed to enable the Agency to take action at our common borders any time and any place this is needed and as quickly as possible. Now, we are submitting additional concrete measures to speed up such efforts“. Five are the priorities that are being worked at: compulsory sharing of resources to strengthen the quick response capacity of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency; pre-assessments of “vulnerabilities”; support to repatriations (since October 2016, the Agency has organised 78 repatriation operations to repatriate 3,421 “illegal” migrants; the EU Commission will submit a revised repatriation policy in the next few weeks); establishment of a reporting mechanism to monitor and ensure compliance with fundamental rights in the operations conducted by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency; a standard agreement on the status of operational cooperation with the priority third countries, by monitoring the territories of the neighbouring third countries, in consultation with them (agreements are already in place with Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia).