FRANCESCA VELLA
Frontex yesterday launched the European Border Patrols Network, which is intended to tighten up control and management of the EU’s southern maritime borders. It could not be more timely – several boatloads of irregular migrants have landed in Malta over the past days, and a boatload of 53 is also believed to have sunk.
Frontex is the European agency which coordinates operational cooperation between EU member states in the field of border security.
The objective of the border patrol operation – which will focus on the whole southern Mediterranean region, but particularly on the North African shores to the south of Malta – is intended to curb irregular migration across the Mediterranean and the south-west Atlantic coasts. The Frontex patrols are also intended to detect emergencies at sea, thus seeking to save lives in such cases.
A spokesperson from the Foreign Affairs Ministry told The Malta Independent that sea craft and personnel from the EU member states concerned were brought together to start the patrols.
The beginning of the patrols turns out to have been timely, since seas are relatively calm and a number of boats have already started leaving the north African shores, said the spokesperson.
European Commission vice-president Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, said: “The European Patrols Network is further proof of Europe’s added value in managing its southern sea borders.
“The challenge posed by irregular migration calls for innovative instruments and courageous political initiatives.”
“As shown by the recent tragedy near Malta, involving the likely death of 53 migrants, all efforts to reduce the loss of life at sea, such as the European Border Patrols Network, are essential, and I am ready and willing to support it,” said Mr Frattini.
The Commissioner added that the network will help member states to forge a European team spirit, which will further develop mutual trust and a culture of exchanging all relevant information regularly, while at the same time using their available resources more efficiently, thus achieving positive synergies and economies of scale.
Eventually, the network should also envisage the direct involvement of interested third countries to make it become truly effective, said the commissioner.
This new tool is designed as a flexible new structure, built around the concept of burden-sharing, which can be adjusted swiftly to respond to the evolving needs of member states.
The network will enable member states along the south-west Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean Sea – Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Malta, Greece and Cyprus – to develop an overall plan for conducting specific operations, including surveillance in selected maritime areas.
Furthermore, the network will require national coordination centres to improve cooperation and flow of information at national level between the different authorities involved in managing external borders.
Member states participating in patrol activities in the context of this new network will not be using the CRATE (Centralised Record of Available Technical Equipment – also known as “toolbox”), which was made available to Frontex at the beginning of this year.
This equipment is not yet ready for use, as specific memoranda of understanding have to be signed between Frontex and the concerned member states. Instead, each participating member state has deployed its own resources for the time being.