Annexes to COM(2015)673 - European Border and Coast Guard and effective management of Europe's external borders - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2015)673 - European Border and Coast Guard and effective management of Europe's external borders. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2015)673  |
| date | December 15, 2015 |
3. Coast Guard Functions
Coast guards have a crucial role to play in securing maritime borders and in rescue at sea. The current crisis has demonstrated the need for a more coordinated response from the relevant Union Agencies and the wide range of national authorities performing coast guard functions. Better coordination can both bring results in terms of addressing crises at sea and helping those authorities to work efficiently. This should include better coordination and pooling of relevant coastguard functions at EU level.
There are currently more than 300 civilian and military authorities in the Member States responsible for carrying out coastguard functions in a wide range of areas such as maritime safety, security, search and rescue, border control, fisheries control, customs control, general law enforcement and environmental protection. Relevant EU Agencies support the national authorities in the exercise of most of these functions. A functional approach is needed so that the national coastguards will be part of the European Border and Coast Guard to the extent that they carry out border control tasks. The Commission therefore proposes to bring together the existing bodies and agencies carrying out coastguard tasks more closely. At EU level, this will be achieved by aligning the mandates of the European Maritime Safety Agency and the European Fisheries Control Agency with the provisions of the new Agency and enhancing their capacities, notably through jointly planned surveillance operations and streamlined sharing of information and capacity building as well as providing surveillance and communication services based on state-of-the-art technology such as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (drones).
This will mean that the Agency will, for example, be able to access new information on vessels used for illegal immigration and cross-border crime which have been detected during maritime surveillance operations whose primary mission is not border control, but fisheries control or oil spill detection. This pragmatic cross-sector cooperation to pool resources and information will allow border management to draw from capacities which are not strictly border control related.
4. Strengthened Role for the Agency in the Field of Return
Improving the effectiveness of return procedures has been recognised as a key objective of migration management. An enhanced role for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in the field of return will improve the capacity of the EU to successfully return illegally staying third-country nationals. As set out in the EU Action Plan on Return 11 , the Agency should be able to initiate return operations and to assist Member States with the acquisition of travel documents.
The Agency will coordinate all the tasks related to return and will provide Member States with all the necessary technical and operational reinforcement to effectively return illegally staying third country nationals. For these purposes, a dedicated Return Office will be created within the structure of the Agency to cooperate with the Member States in conducting identification and return procedures, including through financing and co-financing, coordinating and organising return operations as well as cooperating with relevant third-country authorities in the area of return.
The Agency will also be play a key and direct role in return interventions. European Return Intervention Teams, composed of escorts, monitors and return specialists, will be able to be deployed to Member States subject to particular pressure on their return system. In urgent situations Rapid European Return Intervention Teams could be deployed either upon the request of a Member State or on the Agency's own initiative.
5. Fundamental Rights and A Complaint Mechanism for the Agency
Given the stronger role and enhanced operational tasks of the Agency, it is important to have an adequate complaint mechanism in case a person considers himself or herself to have been subject to a violation of fundamental rights in the course of operational engagement by the Agency. Both the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman have stressed the importance of such a mechanism.
Under the mechanism a dedicated Fundamental Rights Officer in the Agency will receive complaints in a structured manner and refer these to the Executive Director and the Member States concerned. Member States will be required to provide information on the outcome and follow up to the complaint. This administrative process will be without prejudice to any judicial remedies. Moreover, in cases of violations of fundamental rights or international protection obligations which are of a serious nature or are likely to persist, the Executive Director of the Agency would be able to decide not only on the suspension or termination of the operational activities led by the Agency, but also on the withdrawal of financial support for the operation in question.
IV.Uniform Implementation of the Schengen rules
The uniform implementation of all the rules in the field of border management needs to be regularly monitored. With the establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard, the coherent application of the Schengen rules as well as the harmonised performance of border management tasks across Member States becomes even more important.
The laws governing the Schengen area constitute a dynamic set of rules which have developed over time and are incorporated in legal acts as well as in a number of 'soft law' documents such as handbooks, guidelines, catalogues, best practices. Their full and correct application by the Member States is regularly verified through the Schengen evaluation mechanism serving as a quality control tool. Schengen evaluations are carried out on the basis of multi-annual and annual programmes adopted by the Commission. Following evaluation missions, the teams responsible for these evaluations 12 ("Schengen Evaluation teams") put forward recommendations to the Member States to address possible identified deficiencies in their national border management systems.
In this context, the Schengen evaluation reports have often signalled as a weakness in the implementation process the fact that a considerable part of the Schengen rules are included in non-binding documents. Combining ‘soft law’ measures and legally binding rules has not always proven efficient especially due to the fact that 'soft law' could often be interpreted and implemented differently.
To avoid possible discrepancies and to guarantee that the European Border and Coast Guard performs its tasks in a consistent manner, it is important to ensure that the Schengen rules are applied in the same way across the EU. To achieve uniform and more harmonised implementation of the existing rules and better consolidate the Schengen acquis as a 'single rulebook' of measures for border management, the Commission will work towards replacing the ‘soft law’ provisions by legally binding measures.
V. Targeted modification of the Schengen Borders Code
Control at the external borders remains one of the main safeguards of the area without controls at the internal borders. One of the purposes of such controls is to prevent any threat to the internal security and public policy of the Member States. As recent terrorist attacks have demonstrated, the threat can come also from persons enjoying the right of free movement under Union law. Controls at the external borders need to be reinforced in order to be able to identify such persons and minimise risks to the internal security of the Schengen area. This is also confirmed in the conclusions of the eighth biannual report on the functioning of the Schengen area.
To address this need, the Commission is proposing a targeted modification to the Schengen Borders Code 13 as regards checks of EU citizens against databases such as the Schengen Information System, the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents Database as well as relevant national systems. As requested by the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 9 and 20 November 2015, this initiative will provide for "systematic controls of EU nationals, including the verification of biometric information, against relevant databases at external borders of the Schengen area, making full use of technical solutions in order not to hamper the fluidity of movement" 14 .
The proposed amendments will make systematic checks of EU citizens against databases at all external borders (air, sea and land) – which are today possible based on a risk assessment – compulsory. The systematic checks will verify the identity and the nationality of the person and the validity and authenticity of the travel document. Moreover, they will verify that the persons entering the Schengen area do not represent a threat to public order and internal security. The new rules also contain an element of flexibility – where at the land and sea borders systematic checks of EU citizens could have a disproportionate effect on the flow of traffic, Member States may carry them out on a targeted basis based on a risk assessment.
VI. A European Travel Document for Return
Ensuring the effective return of third country nationals who are staying illegally in Europe is an essential component of a comprehensive, sustainable and credible EU migration policy.
The current EU system to return irregular migrants is not sufficiently effective and the lack of valid travel documents issued by the countries of destination of the returnees is one of the main obstacles to successful return and readmission. At present, Member States may issue a European substitute document 15 for those illegally staying third-country nationals who do not possess a valid travel document. However, due to its inadequate security features and standards, among other reasons, its recognition by third countries is unsatisfactory. There is a clear need to improve the recognition of the EU travel document by third countries in view of ensuring successful return while reducing the administrative burden on competent consular authorities of third countries.
Following up on the announcement made in the EU Action Plan on Return, the Commission is proposing to establish a new European travel document for the return of third-country nationals, based on a uniform format and using enhanced technical and security features that can ensure a wider acceptance by third countries. The recognition of this travel document should be promoted in the context of readmission agreements or other arrangements with third countries, as well as in the context of return-related cooperation with third countries not covered by formal agreements.
The proposed Regulation on a European travel document for return defines the format and the security features of this document, while the common standards and procedures for carrying out the return of illegally staying third-country nationals is regulated by the Return Directive 16 and shall be conducted in full respect of fundamental rights, in particular of the principle of non-refoulement.
VII. Eurosur
EUROSUR is a common framework for information exchange and cooperation among all national authorities with responsibility for the surveillance of the external land and sea borders. Since it became operational at the end of 2013, it has considerably improved the situational awareness at the external borders and in the pre-frontier area and it has contributed to saving migrants’ lives on many occasions. This is largely owed to the efforts of Frontex, as also outlined in the report presented this month by Frontex to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the EUROSUR components falling under its responsibility.
The Commission has today adopted a EUROSUR Handbook, providing guidance to Member States authorities on the implementation and management of EUROSUR 17 .
With thousands of people arriving every day at certain sections of the external border, it is clear that Member States also need to be able to react quickly and in a coherent manner. While the legislative proposal for the European Border and Coast Guard creates a stronger Agency, the national coordination centres for border surveillance, established in accordance with the EUROSUR Regulation, play a crucial role and Member States should make better use of them in strengthening their reaction capability.
The EUROSUR Handbook describes in detail the tasks of these national coordination centres, including their cooperation with other national authorities and how to manage resources and personnel and the national border surveillance systems. The Handbook defines how national coordination centres and Frontex exchange information on incidents, patrols and intelligence and coordinate their reaction at the different border sections. Finally, the Handbook provides technical guidelines for the management of the EUROSUR communication network and of classified information.
VIII. Conclusion
The measures adopted today constitute a necessary step forward towards effective European integrated border management.
The Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to give the highest priority to these proposals, and in particular to the proposed Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard, so that the confidence of citizens in Europe's external borders can be restored swiftly and the integrity of the Schengen area of free movement without internal borders can be guaranteed.
(1) The exact figure for the period January-October is 1 284 549 illegal border crossings. The data is available from Frontex Risk Analysis Network (FRAN) and covers the Schengen area including the Schengen candidate countries. It includes the third country nationals detected at external borders (except temporary external borders) when entering or attempting to enter illegally between the border crossing points (BCPs). For November, the data originates from the Joint Operations Reporting Application (JORA) and from the Croatian Ministry of Interior ( http://www.mup.hr/219696.aspx ); estimates have been used for routes where no data was yet available.
(2) For the period 2009-2014, the total number of detected illegal border crossings was 813 044.
(3) COM (2015) 240 final.
(4) COM (2015) 610 final.
(5) In its resolution of 10 September the European Parliament stressed the need to ensure effective management of external borders.
(6) At the informal meeting of Heads of State or Government of 23 September, leaders stressed the need to strengthen controls at the external borders and the European Council conclusions of 15 October explicitly call for the establishment of an integrated management system for the external borders.
(7) These followed an external evaluation of FRONTEX carried out in line with its current legal basis and finalised in June 2015.
(8) Council Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2013 establishing an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis and repealing the Decision of the Executive Committee of 16 September 1998 setting up a Standing Committee on the evaluation and implementation of Schengen, OJ L 295, 6.11.2013, p. 27.
(9) Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a mechanism for the creation of Rapid Border Intervention Teams and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 as regards that mechanism and regulating the tasks and powers of guest officers.
(10) According to Regulation (EU) No 515/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 establishing a part of the Internal Security Fund (OJ L 150, 20.5.2014, p. 143), specific actions are designed as ‘top-up funding’, i.e. additional amounts added to the Member States’ basic national 7-year allocations on a competitive basis depending on their willingness to implement, under their national programmes, actions which correspond to specific EU priorities.
(11) COM (2015) 453 final.
(12) These teams were established by Council Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 of 7 October 2013 establishing an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis and repealing Decision of the Executive Commission of 16 September 1998 setting up a Standing Committee on the evaluation and implementation of Schengen, in its Article 10.
(13) Article 7(2) Schengen Borders Code.
(14) Conclusions of the Council of the EU and of the Member States meeting within the Council on Counter-Terrorism, 20 November 2015.
(15) OJ C 274, 19.9.1996, p. 18.
(16) Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals (OJ L 348, 24.12.2008, p. 98).
(17) Regulation (EU) No 1052/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2013 establishing the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur), OJ L 295, 6.11.2013, p. 11.