Brussels, 23/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved the annual work plan for the Argo 2003 work programme. It has outlined the kinds of projects that could benefit from the EUR 8 million available this year for this programme aimed at promoting administrative cooperation in external border domains, such as visas, asylum and immigration. The actions proposed by Member States in the framework of the appeal for annual proposals are expected to benefit from EUR 3 million in the domain of external borders and EUR 3.55 million for the other domains. EUR 650,000 will be left for Commission actions and EUR 800,000 for emergency actions.
The appeal for annual proposals is expected to be published in the next few days in the Official Journal. Proposals have to be in by the end of May. Projects will need to focus on actions involving training, exchange of agents, developing best practices and the setting up of common operational centres. In the domain of external borders, the Commission has outlines ten priorities, including the follow-up to the external borders management plan, the updating of a curriculum and harmonised training for border guards and pilot projects for improving land, sea and air borders. Asylum - the management of reception centres and implementation of the Dublin II Regulation, which could be fund beneficiaries. Immigration- the programme underlines eight priorities that focus on the application of the papers approved by the Council and information exchange.
In connection with visas, the Commission has announced that it has put EUR 450,000 in its reserves for carrying out a technical and financial study to ensure the follow-up to a feasibility study for setting up a visa information system, the results of which will be out this spring. EUR 200,000 that remains from "Commission actions" should go towards a study on integration and data utilisation, methods and biometric procedure for visas and identity cards.
The Argo programme (2002-2006) was approved in June 2002 with an indicative envelope of around EUR 25 million.