Brussels, 20/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - During a European Parliament study visit to Moldova and Ukraine from Monday 17 to Wednesday 19 March (EUROPE 9625), the chairman of the European Parliament's sub-committee on security and defence, Karl von Wogau (EPP-ED, Germany), expressed a wish to see European borders which are “as secure and as open” as possible. Other study visits will take place, Mr von Wogau said, to EU missions deployed as part of the European security and defence policy (ESDP).
In a comment to EUROPE, Mr von Wogau explained that the EU should have borders which are secure enough to prevent “drug-trafficking and organised crime”, but “as open as possible for trade and people”. The installation of joint border control points at the EU's external borders could, in his view, be one solution to avoid those borders becoming a new iron curtain. These control points would also enable border controls and “exchanges of information” between the EU and its neighbours to be stepped up.
The chairman of the EP sub-committee on security and defence praised the “good work” of the EU assistance mission to the border between Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM, “European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine”) and believes that the mission is making considerable contributions to securing and opening up borders. Speaking to the press on the first day of the visit, Mr von Wogau promised as chairman of his parliamentary sub-committee that he would “try to visit all the EU missions”. “Studying documents (on the ESDP - edit.) in Brussels is one thing”, but one must see things on the ground in order to understand the reality of the situation and collect proper information.
The vice-chairman of the EP's committee on foreign affairs, Ioan Mircea Pascu (PES, Romania), was also present on the trip alongside Mr von Wogau. He welcomed the fact that the EUBAM mission is representing the values of the EU and “performing well” in Ukraine. Mr Pascu said that the EP committee on foreign affairs and the sub-committee on security and defence would combine their efforts “to help the mission to function”.
EUBAM, which was launched in 2005, is a mission to assist and advise Moldovan and Ukrainian border police, customs officers and border guards. The EU is currently operating 11 military and civil operations under the mandate of the ESDP: - in Africa (EUFOR Tchad/RCA, two missions for the reform of the security sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo and an advisory mission in Guinea-Bissau); - in the Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo) and in Afghanistan (the police mission EUPOL Afghanistan) and the Middle East (assistance missions at the Palestinian border and a police mission in Iraq). (A.By.)