The New European Border and Coast Guard Agency

– by Paolo Balmas –

The European Commission proposal for a new European Border and Coast Guard Agency was presented in December 2015, after a year of increased concerns about the migration crisis. Frontex, the existing agency that was assigned to tackle external border issues, proved to be too dependent on Member States and not suited to face the challenges ahead. The new Agency represents the evolution of the former body, Frontex. The Commission’s goal is to provide a service that is more independent from the Member States, able to deploy officers at short notice, and has its own equipment and an increased budget.

The Agency, which is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, was launched last October 6, in Bulgaria on the Turkish border. The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker, during his State of the Union address on September 14, 2016, called for extra border guards and vehicles to be deployed at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, one of the gateways on the Balkan route, used to enter Europe by migrants from Syria, the Levant, and the Horn of Africa.

The start of operations by the European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG) just nine months after the proposal was made is an important achievement for the Commission, for as is well-known, in Europe the bureaucracy of the EU institutions usually needs from one to two years to implement decisions throughout the Union.

Nevertheless, there are observers who don’t perceive much improvement in comparison with the old Frontex agency. One of these is the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), which in a research paper released in March 2016, expressed doubts on how the problem of “dependency” on Member States would be resolved.

The improvement of the EBCG is based on few simple principles.

First, the right to intervene. The EBCG will provide its services if one or more member states request its intervention, but when the Commission recognizes the need for external border operations and the members involved don’t request any support or simply refuse to take action, the EBCG will be allowed to intervene.

The old concept of the “Pool” remains, but it will be improved to guarantee short notice deployment through a Rapid Border Interventions framework. The Pool is formed by 1,500 officers from Member States, using their national equipment for now. The EBCG will be provided with a budget of about $ 350 million (to be reached by 2020) and will be able to directly acquire new dedicated equipment in the future. The ECGB is allowed to intervene in third countries neighboring at least one member state, if assistance is requested by that country’s authorities.

Secondly, the EBCG has a mandate to monitor the external borders and periodically conduct vulnerability assessments and risk analysis. Importantly, it will send liaison officers to help EU members comply with the common external border rule.

Thirdly, the new Return Intervention Team officers of the ECGB have the right to return individuals who are present illegally to their countries of origin.

The creation of the EBCG comes at a time when the EU is under strong pressure. The weakness the EU has shown in the face of threats and challenges, such as terror attacks, migrants, cross-border trafficking and smuggling, and last but not least Brexit, is at the base of the Commission’s need to give quick responses to show the international community and its own Members that the EU is still alive. The urgency of talks about a more integrated common defense derives from the same situation.

Although the EBCG will succeed in improving the EU border and coastal situation as a whole, the main worries remain. How can it prevent disasters at sea and stop the cross-border smuggling of firearms and explosives, when all European security has failed in this mission until now?