Brussels, 28/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU leaders warned on Tuesday of a rise in illegal immigration at the Union's external borders, particularly the southern borders. “We cannot, unfortunately, expect the migratory pressures on the EU's southern maritime borders to diminish in the near future,” said Immigration Commissioner Franco Frattini, at the opening of the new headquarters of the European borders agency, FRONTEX. “The demographic statistical data indicate that migration is set to rise as the population of the 50 least developed countries is likely to double, from 800 million in 2007 to 1.7 billion in 2050,” he pointed out. Speaking for the German presidency, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that monitoring of external borders had to be increased, not only because of migratory pressure in the south, but also because of future likely fluxes from Eastern Europe. FRONTEX, which was set up in 2004, has, until now, been housed by the Polish interior ministry. It will now have its own 3000m² premises in the centre of Warsaw and is likely to employ between 78 and 140 people by the end of the year. FRONTEX has an annual budget of €35 million. This year, it reckons it will carry out over 30 operations to secure borders, including three off the Canary Islands, several in the Mediterranean and one targeting the route from the Balkans. A new operation, Hera III, began on 12 February. It is being carried out using aircraft and vessels provided by Spain, Italy, France and Luxembourg, in collaboration with Senegalese authorities. In the course of this operation, an Italian patrol ship in the FRONTEX force last week intercepted a vessel bound for the United Kingdom with 300 illegal immigrants from India and Pakistan off the coast of Senegal.
FRONTEX, which coordinates all the activities related to border security, is likely to see its role become more important over the coming years, particularly with the extension of the Schengen area planned for December 2007. The agency could soon have new technological instruments at its disposal to help it carry out its control tasks. Mr Frattini announced that the Commission intended to make two proposals. One will be on an “entry-exit” system, which, by means of a biometric visa, would allow foreign workers to be checked as they entered and left the EU. Should a worker exceed his period of residence, law enforcement authorities would immediately be made aware of this fact with a view to this person's being removed from the EU. The other proposal will be to set up a common European Surveillance System, linking national surveillance systems so as to be able to carry out both radar and satellite surveillance at European level. An assessment report on the activities of FRONTEX will be brought forward at the end of the year. This could result in the extension of the agency's mandate. (bc)