Brussels, 04/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 February, the Spanish EU Presidency supported reinforcement of the European agency for external border control (Frontex) and suggested it should be given “more resources, clearer rules and specialist offices”. These ideas were floated by Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba at the opening of the meeting of the Frontex management board in Madrid. “We are planning to promote Frontex, to equip it with more resources, its own resources, because when Frontex becomes more independent it will become more efficient to provide it with mechanisms for jointly managing maritime operations, mechanisms that respect the laws and rights and clearly establish each country's obligations”, he added. The minister also stressed the fact that this responsibility of control was to be shouldered by all members of the EU. “Frontex has shown that it is probably the best tool we have for ensuring shared and jointly responsible border control”, he said. In 2009, some 7,200 attempts at illegal entry into the EU were made on the Spanish coasts, the lowest figure for the past ten years, compared to the next lowest figure that dates back to 2000 when there were 15,000 attempts. “But we cannot lower our guard”, he said, underlining that: “irregular immigration originates from economic imbalance, and nothing indicates that that is going to reduce”. (B.C./transl.jl)