IMMIGRATION : FRONTEX: COMMISSION WANTS MANDATORY COMMITMENTS.

Boosting material means and human rights training for the staff of Frontex, the European agency that coordinates management of EU external borders, without increasing its budget, is the goal of the European Commission's legislative proposal presented, on 24 February, by Commissioner Cecilia Malmström (home affairs). The proposal amends the 2004 regulation that created the Warsaw-based agency.

For her baptism by fire, the Swedish commissioner responded to the pressing demands of member states (particularly Italy and France) that want the EU to be more involved in the fight against illegal immigration. She will present her proposals to the home affairs ministers at their meeting in Brussels, on 25 February. The aims are to ensure that Frontex has the equipment it needs for its operations at sea, on land and in the air.

The problem, explained Malmström, is that the "member states sign up for different operations but afterwards do not provide the equipment". The innovation of the proposal is that it obliges participating countries to decide 12 months in advance what equipment they will supply. The idea is also to give countries incentive to make a pool of equipment (boats and planes) available to Frontex and to enable it to gradually buy or lease its own surveillance equipment.

The agency's budget would not be changed, said Malmström, who noted a "considerable increase" in recent years, its financing having risen from 6.2 million in 2005 to around 88 million for 2010.

FINANCIAL SANCTIONS

Acknowledging that there are "difficulties" with certain member states [such as Malta - Ed], the commissioner said that "countries choose whether or not they will participate". The role of Frontex is limited to "coordination". "We make known what we want, but the states remain sovereign," she added.

If the countries default by not providing the equipment, the Commission will be able to take financial sanctions by not reimbursing part of the expenditure advanced by the state concerned.

At her hearing before the European Parliament, Malmström had stressed the need for better training of...