Brussels, 24/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 24 February, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, proposed bolstering the resources of the European external borders agency (Frontex), by such means as obliging the European countries to make teams available to fight illegal immigration. "There is a problem, because the Member States invest in various projects and do not provide the equipment or personnel needed, thus making it hard to plan operations", said Ms Malmström. "We are therefore proposing obligatory contributions from the Member States in terms of equipment and human resources", she said. She nonetheless added that it was more a case of a "semi-obligatory mechanism", with each country remaining free to choose whether or not to pledge equipment to Frontex. Countries wishing to take part in this effort will have to ensure that a fleet of equipment, such as boats, aircraft and personnel, are available to the Agency, 12 months in advance, with a view to future operations. Only these countries will be bound by their commitments. On 1 January 2008, the list of equipment available to Frontex included 18 aircraft, 20 helicopters and 91 vessels. However, in 2008, only eight aircraft, five helicopters and 12 boats were actually used in operations. The Agency has estimated that in the future, it will need 92 boats, 14 aircraft and 18 helicopters. In practice, this means that the Member States not hosting operations on their soil will have to contribute more, says the Commission. Under the proposal, Frontex will also have the possibility of progressively buying or leasing its own equipment, within the restrictions of its already limited budget (around 88 million euros a year). "All of these new proposals are supposed to be covered by the current budget", said the Commissioner. The other new idea regards the possibility for Frontex to co-direct border patrol operations with the Member States of the EU. Operational capacity will be reinforced by clarifying the respective roles of Frontex and the participant Member States, with each State remaining responsible for controlling its share of the external border. "It is, however, not the intention that Frontex be made into a European border guard", the Commissioner took pains to stress. The proposal also contains specific provisions concerning the operational plan, and risks and incident notification mechanisms. Frontex will reserve the capacity to coordinate joint operations to return immigrants to their countries of origin. It may also provide technical assistance to third countries by deploying officers and liaison officers to other countries. The proposal also brings in the explicit obligation for all border guards taking part in the operations to have been trained in fundamental rights, in order to ensure that migrants are dealt with correctly, including the principle of "non-refoulement". "In the event of violation of the fundamental rights by Member States, financial support could be called into question", the Commissioner stressed. "I'm not saying that there were no mistakes in the past", when I was not Commissioner, she said, referring to Frontex's alleged involvement in returning asylum seekers to Libya. Guarantees will be brought in to ensure that the fundamental rights are fully observed in the framework of these return operations. Plans are in place for an independent controller (possibly a member of an NGO such as the Red Cross) to be present during these operations and to report back to the Commission on whether the Member States observed the rule of law and a code of conduct stipulating standards to be respected as regards the fundamental rights. It is also intended that Frontex will work together with the Asylum Support Office in Valetta and with the Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna. Lastly, Ms Malmström stated that she intended to visit Ankara in the near future to discuss cooperation in illegal immigration matters and an agreement between Frontex and Turkey. (B.C./trans.fl)