Nr. 11-12/2010 - Politia de Frontiera

at the Hungarian border. This is one of the situations which
might change with the accession of Romania and Bulgaria
into the Schengen area. That re-drawing of the external
borders will not only double the length of the land border
with Turkey — thereby perhaps taking some of the pressure
off Greece — but will also create a clear onward passage
within the EU once the external border has been crossed.
- What is Frontex view on the implementation of
EUROSUR project?
- Formally speaking Eurosur is a project of the
European Commission, but Frontex is playing a key role
in the implementation of the Eurosur. European Border
Surveillance System supports the Member States in
reaching full situational awareness on the situation at their
external borders and increasing the reaction capabilities
of their national law enforcement authorities. Such a
framework will be set up without replacing the existing
systems. A key operational objective is to interlink the
different existing systems. Eurosur is aiming at reducing
the number of immigrants entering undetected, reducing
the death toll and increasing EU security. Curret challenges
are the detection of small craft, merging sensor data and
intelligence information and sharing information between
the Members States. Frontex has already had an active
role in organising a pilot for improving the information
exchange. Frontex Situation Centre (FSC) will be the main
hub for the information exchange in the Eurosur. European
Patrols Network (EPN), the platform established by Frontex
for synchronizing the patrolling activities at the southern
European maritime borders and increasing the level of
cooperation between the Members States, contributes
to increasing the situational awareness and sharing of
information between the Member States and is thereby
promoting the development of Eurosur.
- Which are the main regional threats from your point
of view?
- The pressure of irregular immigration as well as
the focus of Frontex coordinated activities is in Greece
at the moment. The attactiveness of Romania for illegal
immigration might increase as a result of the possible
Schengen accession. The Schengen area must be ready to
face the challenges. Irregular immigration combined with
the cross-border criminality like human smuggling needs all
the attention of the border guard community at the south
eastern European region. As an example it is important to
increase the capabilities of the law enforcement community
to identify falsified documents and to detect migrants hiding
in vehicles at BCPs. Passengers arriving to EU on flights
from the main third country hubs need to be controlled
sufficiently. Criminal groups are trying to find new ways
and means to continue their activities. Law enforcement
community must continue the efforts for detecting
facilitators, dismantling the criminal networks and thereby
incresing the security of the EU.
- In this context, taking into consideration also our
border length, which are the Agency expectations from
Romania?
- Frontex encourages Romania to continue its efforts
of being an active European partner. Although the
participation of Romania in joint European activities is on
a relatively good level already at the moment, it is important
for Romania to increase the intensity of the participation
covering all kind of activities coordinated by Frontex – on
the area of Joint Operations as well as Capacity Building.
- In the context of the actual economic crisis what
measures do you consider should be adopted by the border
police structures at European level in order to secure the
EU external border?
- Despite of the current financial
situation the border guard authorities
of the Member States should, in
cooperation with Frontex, develop
their capacities and increase joint
European efforts for securing the
EU external borders. The Schengen
area is only as strong as its weakest
link. Identifying and preventing
potential threats to Europe’s security
and ensuring wellbeing of the most
vulnerable is indispensable. The ability
of the border guard authorities to
cooperate with other law-enforcement
agencies increases Europe’s security.
The message is clear: The current
challenges and the challenges ahead
can be overcome, but they cannot be
met alone. We must work more closely
together.
F R O N T I E R A
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