Brussels, 18/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The German presidency indicated last week that the EU would be able to create a joint border police force within a decade. “In parallel to Europe's developments in many other fields, I can easily imagine a joint control on the external borders of Europe, carried out by a joint police force, within 10 or 15 years”, said a representative of the German presidency, at a meeting held from 15-17 April, in Boppard in Germany, which brought together European officials with responsibility for border control. In the view of the presidency, border protection must be assured by coordinated action by all of the member states, and the European Borders Agency is the perfect example of this. Since operation “Hera III” was launched on 12 February, 585 immigrants have arrived in the Spanish islands of the Atlantic, according to a press release issued by the Agency on 12 April. At the same time, 1167 candidates for immigration were obliged to return to their ports of departure in western Africa, having been intercepted by the vessels or aircraft provided, within the framework of the operation, by Spain, Italy, France and Luxembourg, in collaboration with the Senegalese authorities. “Very small numbers of illegal immigrants arrive in the Canary Islands and more than a thousand human lives have been saved - this is the result”, said Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen. The number of illegal immigrants who landed on the beaches of the Canaries fell by 60% in the first three months of this year compared to last year, falling from 3914 to 1525, according to a representative of the Spanish Government in the Canaries. In 2006, more than 31,000 immigration applicants disembarked on the Canary Islands, six times more than the previous year, after security was reinforced in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. A European Parliamentary committee on Wednesday approved a plan providing for the creation of a rapid intervention coastguard force to help countries faced with sudden influxes of immigrants (EUROPE 9405). (bc)