European commission set to propose new border guards force that could be deployed without a country’s approval

Brussels is to unveil radical plans to strip national governments of authority over their borders in an emergency and to create a border guards force to police the EU’s frontiers, supervise asylum claims, and detain and deport failed asylum seekers.



The controversial response to the immigration crisis is to be launched on Tuesday by the European commission, which is calling for a 2,000-strong European border and coastguard force that could be deployed in an emergency without the approval of the country concerned.

The plan will prove highly divisive among national governments, most of which jealously guard their sovereign powers over border control. But the proposal is backed by Germany and France, giving it a head start in what is likely to be two years of tough bargaining before it could become a reality.

More than 1 million people have sought EU asylum so far in 2015 Read more

In theory, the new regime and the powers ceded to Brussels over its operation apply to all 26 countries in Europe’s free-travel Schengen area, which does not include the UK and Ireland but takes in non-EU countries such as Norway and Switzerland.

In practice, the regime would apply to the external borders of the Schengen area, so would not greatly affect countries such as Germany that are surrounded by other Schengen nations. With more than 1 million asylum seekers arriving in Europe this year and a further 1.5 million predicted for next year, the commission’s proposals are directed mainly at Greece and Italy, the main entry points from Turkey across the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.

Both frontline countries are bitterly opposed to the plan, despite being fed up with bearing the brunt of the influx while also being berated for failing to properly register refugees.

“The Italian interior ministry is very unhappy about having outsiders on Italy’s borders,” said a senior diplomat in Brussels. “There are too many sovereign sensitivities. This will all take time, but the governments don’t have time.”

The commission said on Thursday that Italy had registered only half of the people arriving on its southern shores this year, while Greece had a much poorer record, registering just a quarter.

The refugee children seeking a new life, alone: ‘I expected I would die’ Read more

The new border guards regime is to be based on the fledgling EU frontiers agency, Frontex, which is based in Warsaw. Frontex operations and powers are limited and heavily circumscribed. Currently it can only operate in EU member states at the invitation of the national authorities.

Athens has been resisting Frontex assistance for months, leading to discreet warnings that Greece could be suspended from the Schengen zone. But last week Athens caved in and requested help.

“The experience with Greece is that they promise a lot but don’t deliver,” said a second senior diplomat. “They rejected assistance, were threatened and then they gave in. Greece moves only when it feels that the cost of inaction is higher than that of action.”

The immigration crisis has placed the survival of the 20-year-old Schengen zone into question as never before, with member states engaging in beggar-thy-neighbour policies and ignoring the rules to re-erect national border controls. Last week the first wire fences went up between two Schengen states, Austria and Slovenia.

The EU’s “handling of the arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers has been simply disastrous”, said the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based human rights body that is quite separate from the EU.

The media needs to tell the truth on migration, not peddle myths | Alberto Nardelli Read more

Franco-German demands for a border force also put the onus on countries such as Greece and Italy to establish what would effectively be large detention camps that hold refugees while their cases are considered.

The president of the European council, Donald Tusk, told the Guardian last week that asylum seekers could be held for up to two years. Rome has complained that Italy could end up with a volume of detainees bigger than the national prison population.

“All migrants arriving in Italy and Greece must go through the reception centres,” said Germany and France last week. A joint letter to the commission from both countries’ interior ministers added: “That means these centres must be able to take in enough people and hold them for the time required … so that the necessary security checks can be made and their status clearly established.”

Frontex is at present utterly dependent for staff and equipment on pledges from national governments, which have repeatedly promised to increase resources but generally failed to follow through.

The new proposals would create a separately budgeted, well-equipped standing force of 2,000 border and coastguards that could be deployed within days. The commission in Brussels would decide when action was warranted.

“In exceptional circumstances, Frontex should be able to deploy rapid reaction teams to the frontiers on its own initiative and under its own responsibility,” said the Franco-German letter.

“Could you imagine a president of France asking Frontex to come and take over his borders?” said one of the diplomats.

The immigration crisis has generated acute tensions between the EU’s national governments. These new proposals are likely to trigger a lengthy bout of recrimination.