Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-453"
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"en.20081217.26.3-453"2
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"Mr President, I should of course like to commend the report on the assessment and future development of the FRONTEX agency and of EUROSUR, the European border monitoring system. I am grateful to Mr Moreno Sánchez.
The European Parliament has always supported the FRONTEX agency since its creation, especially in terms of providing financial resources. I am glad to see this support confirmed again at this vital moment in the agency’s existence, at a time when we are considering the possibility of extending its mandate.
Almost all of the points raised in the report are in line with our communications and have my full agreement. For example, I note the specific invitation to the Commission to present proposals to extend the agency’s mandate, the call for permanent patrols in high-risk areas, and the need to make European solidarity effective at times when our borders have to be controlled. A number of points are worth clarifying, however.
At present, Member States provide technical equipment on a voluntary basis. The Commission has insisted on several occasions that Member States honour their commitments to ensure that equipment is genuinely made available for joint operations, particularly in high-risk sectors.
The experiences of this year, however, show that deploying an adequate number of ships is still a problem. Other solutions must therefore be considered. These include, for example, forcing Member States to provide the agency with certain equipment or to allow the agency to lease or buy its own equipment. This will be a key issue that will need to be examined within the framework of the proposal that the Commission will submit on the adaptation of the agency’s legal framework.
In this respect, I would point out that the results of the independent assessment of the agency’s mandate, as laid down in Article 33 of the FRONTEX regulation, will be known in 2009. It will be at that time that the Commission publishes its proposals on the agency’s future mandate. This revision may include specific provisions relating to the contribution to rescues at sea, to participation in repatriation activities and to increased cooperation with third countries.
It is also true, ladies and gentlemen, that the Commission wants to step up the information campaigns through its delegations in third countries, within the framework of the EU external relations policy and on the basis of the common definition of the mandates and roles of FRONTEX. The Commission will examine the types of support which could be offered to neighbouring third countries.
I am one of those who believe that, if FRONTEX could carry out its surveillance operations as close as possible to the borders of third countries’ coasts, this would prevent humanitarian disasters and would allow much more effective surveillance of our borders.
In any case, I am grateful to the European Parliament for this report, which echoes the Commission’s proposals. I should therefore like to thank you for the European Parliament’s important and comprehensive support of the Commission’s communications on FRONTEX. I believe that we have reached a consensus between the European institutions on the broad outlines for the future development of FRONTEX."@en1
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