Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2018)631 - European Border and Coast Guard - Contribution to the Leaders’ meeting, September 2018

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dossier COM(2018)631 - European Border and Coast Guard - Contribution to the Leaders’ meeting, September 2018.
source COM(2018)631 EN
date 12-09-2018


1. CONTEXTOFTHEPROPOSAL

• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

The Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard put in place after the 2015 migration crisis in a record time entered into forced on 6 October 20161. Yet, more remains to be done to ensure, as part of a comprehensive approach on migration, the effective control of EU external borders and to significantly step up the effective return of irregular migrants. The European Border and Coast Guard as it exists today brought improvements in this regard. However, it is imperative that it fully responds to the level of ambition and needs of the European Union to effectively protect the external borders and to meet the challenges of the future in the area of migration. The European Border and Coast Guard should stand as a tangible example of European solidarity available for operational deployment where needed and reinforce the protection of the Union's shared external borders.

The Commission has already set out its vision2 for a strengthened and fully operational European Border and Coast Guard in order to address citizens’ concerns regarding security and safety for the Union. For the next Multi-annual Financial Framework 2021-2027, the Commission proposed to create a standing corps of 10,000 border guards and to almost triple funding for migration and border management to €34.9 billion, compared to nearly € 13 billion in the current period, in order to response in a targeted way to increased migratory, mobility and security challenges. This will allow for a better management of the EU borders by the European Border and Coast Guard and a more effective migration policy.

In addition the Commission proposed to provide financial support for equipment and training of the national component of the European Border and Coast Guard in Member States aiming at allowing them to step up their operational capacity, the reinforcement of existing tools and the development of EU wide information systems for borders, migration management and security. In this regard, on 12 June 2018, the Commission proposed the Asylum and Migration Fund, Border Management Instrument and Internal Security Fund totalling € 20.9 billion.

In its June 2018 conclusions, the European Council confirmed the need for a more effective control of the EU’s external borders by further strengthening the supportive role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, including the cooperation with third countries, through increased resources and an enhanced mandate. The main principles agreed in the conclusions of the European Council have also been further supported by Member States in

Regulation (EU) 2016/2024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2016 on the European Border and Coast Guard, OJ L251, 16.9.2016, p 1.

Communication: ‘A new, modern Multiannual Financial Framework for a European Union that delivers efficiently on its priorities post-2020’ (COM(2018)98).

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different fora,3 emphasising the need for reinforcing the tools of European solidarity, including the, ensuring an effective management of the external borders with a stronger European Border and Coast Guard and establishing a more effective and coherent European return policy on the basis of more solidarity and mutual trust.

Moreover, the European Parliament Resolution of 30 May 2018 on the annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area insisted on the need for a prompt introduction of the fully-fledged European Integrated Border Management (IBM) strategy, as agreed between the institutions, the technical and operational strategy by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and the Member States’ subsequent national strategies. The European Parliament expressed also its concern over inconsistencies in the implementation of the IBM Strategy in the Member States and stressed that the full execution of the IBM Strategy in all Member States is vital for the adequate functioning of the Schengen area.

Responding to these calls and more recently to the one of the European Council, the Commission is putting forward a number of changes to the European Border and Coast Guard, in particular by providing the Agency with its own operational arm: a European Border and Coast Guard standing corps of 10,000 operational staff with executive powers for all its activities to effectively support Member States on the ground. The European Border and Coast Guard standing corps will not only constitute a quantitative change but it will provide for a qualitative change by guaranteeing a readily available and reliable solution. It will ensure that the EU collectively has the necessary capabilities to protect the EU external borders, prevent secondary movements and effectively implement returns of irregular migrants.

With the significant reinforcement also of the technical equipment at its disposal, the acquisition of executive powers by its statutory staff and the further strengthened ability to act in third countries, the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps will be a game changer in terms of quality and effectiveness on how the EU collectively protects its common borders and manages, the migratory flows. By setting new standards and imbuing a European culture within border guards, the European Border and Coast Guard will also become a blueprint on how EU border management should be implemented.

Consequently, the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard and more importantly the way strategic priorities for the European Integrated Border Management are set out, needs to be adapted. The proposal therefore aims at structuring the political steering of the European Integrated Border Management by establishing a policy cycle of European and national integrated border management strategies. The coordination of the planning processes of European Integrated Border Management will be improved to better prepare border operations, define the reaction to higher impact levels and in particular possible intervention of the standing corps and other capabilities of the Agency in support of Member States. It will also improve the preparation of the capabilities of the European Border and Coast Guard by

Meseberg declaration of Germany and France "Renewing Europe’s promises of security and prosperity", 19 June 2018.

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coordinating training and education, the acquisition of equipment in the short and longer term, including research and development.

The proposal will also improve the capability to exchange information and support the Member States in the area of returns. Futhermore, it is being presented together with a review of the Return Directive aiming at assisting Member States to increase the efficiency of returns and achieving a more effective and coherent European return policy. The recast of the Return Directive proposes clearer and more effective procedures for issuing return decisions and processing appeals, to ensure coherence and synergies between the asylum and return procedures, as well as a more effective use of detention to facilitate return. In this context, the proposed changes to the Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard further expand the scope of operational assistance to be provided by the Agency to the Member States.

These changes also reinforce and strengthen the cooperation between the Agency and the EU Agency for Asylum in the deployment of migration management support teams, in particular in hotspots and controlled centres. The Commission addresses the need to ensure synergies between the asylum and return procedures through coordination between the national competent authorities and relevant Union agencies and also increasing the efficiency of the common return policy as a key component of sustainable migration management.

Cooperation with third countries is another key element of European Integrated Border Management. This proposals reinforces the cooperation of the Agendy to third countries with the aim to promote European border management and return standards, to exchange information and risk analysis, to facilitate the implementation of returns with a view to increasing their efficiency and to support third countries in the area of border management and migration. This includes the deployment of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps when such support is required to protect external borders and the effective management of the Union’s migration policy.

A fully operational European Border and Coast Guard should also streamline and use all the existing operational tools. The Commission proposes to encompass the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) in the European Border and Coast Guard proposal, to improve the functioning of EUROSUR and enlarge its scope to cover most of the components of Integrated Border Management. This means better detecting, anticipating and reacting to crisis situations at EU external borders and in third countries.

The above-mentioned elements will reinforce Integrated Border Management as it will enable the European Border and Coast Guard to act as a genuine border police to ensure the protection of EU external borders, to effectively manage migratory flows and to contribute to guarantee a high level of security within the Union - a key condition to preserve the Schengen

Reasons for improving the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard

Contents

1.

The mandatory Rapid Reaction Pool of 1,500 border guards was one of the novelties of the 2016 Regulation. Despite having been successfully set up, the Pool can only be activated for


area.

rapid border interventions, a very specific type of intervention addressing emergency situations. For operational support to frontline Member States under regular joint operations – which are the most common type – the Agency continues to rely entirely on the voluntary pooling of Member States' human and technical resources.

During the migration crisis, the Agency's operational needs to support frontline Member States have been multiplied by four: from operations requiring the deployment of 52,359 man/days in 2014 up to 189,705 man/days in 2017. Even if the intensity of the pressure at the external borders has decreased compared to 2015, with significantly less irregular arrivals via the Central and Eastern Mediterranean routes, the Agency’s increased operational engagement continues to considerably contribute to these positive results.

However, the operational needs for human and technical resources established by the Agency are often not sufficiently met by the Member States' voluntary pledges.

A continuous high level of engagement is needed to ensure a proper and long-lasting protection of the external borders. Given geopolitical developments in some strategic regions of the world as well as global demographic trends, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency will be expected to help more and more EU Member States in dealing with migratory pressure, including through supporting effective returns and cooperation with third countries.

While Member States have largely anticipated this trend and provided the Agency with additional border guards and experts, unfortunately, still most of the Agency's joint operations in the period 2015-2018 have been seriously affected by persistent gaps, often rendering the Agency's support partially ineffective, as the Commission has repeatedly outlined4. The 2018 annual pledging exercise between the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and the Member States resulted in only 49% of border guards and 45% of equipment covered compared to the Agency's needs for land borders activities. For sea border operations, while 96 % of border guards were covered, only 60% of technical assets were covered.5 This permanent weakness of the current pooling mechanism, is affecting the EU capacity to keep our external borders secure, and needs to be remedied as acknowledged on numerous occasions by the JHA Council6.

Furthermore, under the current pooling mechanism, Member States tend to pledge their contributions only for concrete locations and concrete periods, giving the Agency limited flexibility to quickly redeploy experts and/or technical assets to other operational areas as needed. The Agency also faces under-pledges for some peak months, and over-pledging for

In its five progress reports on the operationalisation of the European Border and Coast Guard adopted in 2017 and in the last the progress reports on the implementation of the European Agenda for Migration. Currently the Agency's operational activities and the overall level of engagement is collectively decided by the Agency's Management Board via an Annual Work Programme (by December n-l) and the Decision on the Minimum Number of Items of Technical Equipment for operations (by June n-l). While these collective decisions often correspond to the operational needs for the Agency to intervene, these commitments are not anymore upheld during the Annual Bilateral Negotiations with the Agency (Autumn n-l) when the concrete individual contributions are pledged by Member States.

See the outcome of the JHA Council meeting of 27-28 March 2017 focussing on the deployment of resources by the Member States and the outcome of the Council meeting of 4-5 June 2018 considering stepping up support to EU agencies, in particular the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

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low season months. All this is problematic because the Agency cannot redeploy the operational staff according to the identified needs.

The Agency tries to compensate the insufficient contributions from Member States and the lack of flexibility in redeployment by developing and using its own capabilities, in particular by pooling and deploying "seconded Team Members"(sTMs) as its own contribution to the operational activities. However, this voluntary and complementary scheme has proven to be largely insufficient to allow the Agency to benefit from its main advantages, namely the long term foreseeability of engagement and flexibility for redeployment. While sTMs could be placed at the disposal of the Agency for one year or more, most of them are seconded only for the minimum period of three months required by the Regulation.

The lessons learned from the Agency's operations show that there is a clear need to have permanent, fully trained staff of the Agency that can be deployed at any time anywhere. They also confirm that there is an inequality in the deployments by Member States, a lack of common training, of sufficient linguistic skills, and of a common operational culture which together hamper cooperation on the ground. Fully trained staff with a same professional culture would bring a real added value.

Finally, likewise the persistent gaps in the pooling of human resources, the Agency regularly faces significant shortages in Member States' contributions for technical equipment. While it appears to be difficult to set up a mandatory pooling mechanism build on the equal participation of all Member States, the only viable solution is the further development of the Agency's own technical capabilities through the acquisition of necessary assets taking into account the ambitious envelop foreseen for that purpose in the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework. This process will create an additional demand for operational staff to act as crew members to maintain and operate all these technical assets and this need should be reflected in the long term solution.

The role of the Union in supporting Member States in the area of returns needed to be reinforced as a key element to help address the migratory situation faced by EU Member States. As shown by return rates in the EU in recent years, challenges remain with regard to the effective implementation of returns. For 2017, Eurostat statistics show a decrease of the return rate throughout the EU from 45.8% in 2016 to merely 36.6%. Together with the proposed recast of the Return Directive, which proposes clearer and more effective procedures for issuing return decisions and processing appeals, as well as a more effective use of detention to facilitate returns, this proposal is intended to reinforce the overall return policy framework in place.

In view of further scaling up the support the Agency provides to the Member States and developing new activities in the field of return, also in relation to third countries, it is evident that more operational staff will need to be made available to support the efforts of the Agency in this regard, in particular given the significant budget foreseen to cover the return activities by the Agency. Such extended mandate on return should be matched with adequate capabilities and human resources, also taking into account the already growing number of return operations that have been supported operationally by the European Border and Coast

Guard Agency: 192 operations have been organised or coordinated by the Agency in 2018 as of 3rd of August, compared to 90 for the same period in 2016 and 194 in 20177.

The experiences of the past two years have proven more than ever the importance of taking actions in third countries, including providing operational and technical support. The Commission has been negotiating on behalf of the Union Status agreements with certain neighbouring countries to enable the Agency to carry out operational deployments to those countries. Negotiations have concluded or are close to conclusion with Western Balkan countries, and these agreements may in the future expand beyond neighbouring countries and without the territorial limitations as long as such support to third countries will contribute to the protection of the EU external borders. Significantly more operational staff from the standing corps will be required for such operational deployments and to support such activities on the ground in third countries including on return.

Objectives of the European Border and Coast Guard

All the above-mentioned elements demonstrate the vital need for a permanent and reliable solution to ensure that the Agency has the necessary capabilities to protect the EU external borders and effectively supporting returns.

The European Border and Coast Guard Regulation adopted in 2016 sets out the principles of European Integrated Border Management and defines the European Border and Coast Guard but it mainly addresses the role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. The EUROSUR Regulation adopted in 2013 established a framework for cooperation and information exchange between the Member States and the Agency but this framework is currently limited to the surveillance of sea and land borders. By merging the two Regulations, the proposal combines both the tasks of the Agency and the role that the Member States authorities must play in the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard.

That is why the Commission proposes to set up the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps of 10,000 operating staff by 2020 to provide the Agency with its own effective and efficient operational arm. This proposal is designed to remedy the current identified shortcomings, to respond to the present needs and ensure the EU’s strategic readiness to respond to challenges in the future. In particular, it is essential to ensure that the standing corps will rapidly reach by 2020 its full capacity of 10,000 operational staff, to enable the Agency to respond to the current situation. In this context, the preparatory actions, including all logistical and administrative preparation for recruitments and secondments, should take place as soon as political agreement is reached on the proposal.

The creation of the standing corps needs to be integrated in a well-functioning European Board and Coast Guard where Member States, the Union and the EU agencies, in particular the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, are well coordinated and work towards common and shared policy objectives. This coordination will ensure the capacity to share information and analysis, to coordinate reaction capability and the capacity to anticipate

Data available in Frontex Application Return.

crisis situations at external borders in the short, medium and long term and to jointly develop the necessary reaction capabilities.

The size of this European Border and Coast Guard standing corps largely builds on the current indications for engagement under the existing pooling mechanisms which are, however, with the exception of the Rapid Reaction Pool, of a voluntary nature. In accordance with the Management Board's decision, the overall number of border guards for the Agency's operational activities is 5,000. However, the actual number of European Border and Coast Guard Team members registered in the Agency's OPERA system is more than 7,000. These capabilities are complemented by 1,500 border guards nominated by the Rapid Reaction Pool. In addition, in the area of return, the Agency has currently at its disposal three pools which, in accordance with the decision of Management Board should be composed respectively of 600 return escorts, 50 return specialists and 40 forced return monitors. In this context, the proposed size of a 10,000 standing corps intends to allow the Agency, beyond only filling the current gaps, to boost its support to frontline Member States in critical operational areas and to cover more areas in the EU Member States and third countries as well as the significantly scale up returns.

The European Border and Coast Guard standing corps should be composed of three categories of operational staff: 1) staff members employed by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Category 1), 2) staff mandatorily seconded to the Agency by the Member States for long duration (Category 2) and 3) staff mandatorily provided by Member States for short-term deployment (Category 3).

The essential feature of this new approach is the inclusion of the Agency's statutory staff as members of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps having all the necessary powers to carry out border control and return tasks, including the tasks requiring executive powers. Article 77(2) (d) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides that the Union shall adopt any measure necessary to the gradual establishment of an integrated management system for external borders. This provides the legal basis to confer powers of law enforcement to the agents acting on behalf of the Union when conducting the tasks related to the introduction of an integrated management system for external borders. However, such powers and tasks should be clearly defined to match the objective of the establishment of an integrated management system for external borders. Therefore, the list of such tasks is part of the proposal. The Agency's staff under Category 1 will be a new type of EU staff within the Agency on which executive powers are conferred, including the use of force, when acting as team members deployed from the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps. The Commission considers this arrangement as a core element of its revised proposal which will have a significant impact in reinforcing the mandate of the Agency so as to guarantee effective control of the Union’s external borders.

The second key element of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps is the mandatory nature of Member States' short and long term contributions to the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps, which is the only solution guaranteeing the availability of necessary contributions for the Agency's activities in the spirit of solidarity and responsibility for the well-functioning of the Schengen area. The individual contributions of

Member States have been established based on the distribution key agreed during the negotiations in 2016 for the Rapid Reaction Pool and set out in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2016/1624.

This mandatory contribution may be a real challenge for Member States in cases where their national capacities are overstretched by national duties. That is why the proposal provides for a financial support system to support and secure the long term development of human resources by enabling the Member States to hire and train additional staff to provide the necessary flexibility to comply with the mandatory pooling established under the European and Border Guard standing corps while keeping sufficient own national capacities.

The modular composition of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps with three categories of operational staff will provide the flexibility to modulate the Agency's engagement according to the operational needs. While the Agency's statutory operational staff (Category 1) will be always the main building block for the deployments from the standing corps, the engagement of operational staff under category 2 and especially under category 3 could be adapted within the existing mechanisms.

Finally, the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps and its operational staff provide an integrated solution addressing the whole spectrum of the Agency's deployments: border management teams, return teams as well as migration management support teams having mixed compositions. This is why the proposal is integrating all the existing pooling mechanisms: current annual pledging mechanism for activities at the external borders, the mandatory Rapid Reaction Pool for the rapid border interventions, two pools for return specialists and return escorts. By way of exception, due to the specificity of its tasks and expertise and the need for independence while carrying out monitoring functions, the pool of forced return monitors should remain as a separate arrangement.

The proposal aims at structuring the political steering of the European Integrated Border Management by establishing a policy cycle of European and national integrated border management strategies.

The proposal will reinforce the early warning mechanisms of the European Border and Coast Guard to increase the reactivity of the response when confronted to crisis but also to better address situations where the functioning of the Schengen area could be at risk.

Anticipation will be a key element of these processes. The proposal aims at improving the coordination of the planning processes of European Integrated Border Management to better prepare border operations, define the reaction to higher impact levels and in particular possible intervention of the standing corps and other capabilities of the Agency in support of Member States. It will also improve the preparation of the capabilities of the European Border and Coast Guard by coordinating training and education, the acquisition of equipment in the short and longer term, including research and development.

The proposal will also improve the capability to exchange information and support the Member States in the area of returns. In order to better assist the Member States, with this proposal the tasks of the the Agency are broadened to include technical and operational assistance in the implementation of return procedures, including the preparation of return

decisions and other pre-return activities, as well as assistance in developing and operating return management systems and information exchange systems.

The proposal will clarify the respective role of the Member States and of the Agency in the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard, including cooperation with third parties and third countries. In the area of return, the Agency will be able to provide assistance to return activities of third countries, including through the organisation of mixed return operations with participation of one or more Member States. In particular, the functionning of EUROSUR will be further improved, by increasing the quality of the data exchanged, the security and the reactivity of the systems. In order to better support the different components of Integrated Border Management, the scope EUROSUR will evolve from border surveillance to border control including the reporting on secondary movements and air borders. EUROSUR will be used for border operations and integrated planning. EUROSUR will also improve operational cooperation and information exchange with third Countries and third parties.

• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

This proposal complements the Commission's proposals of 12 June 2018 to establish the Integrated Border Management Fund and the Asylum and Migration Fund under the next Multiannual Financial Framework in view of reinforcing the funding for the national components of the European Border and Coast Guard. All these Commission proposals aim to jointly ensure a fully integrated EU border-management system implemented by a strong and fully operational European Border and Coast Guard composed of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and the national authorities responsible in Member States for the management of borders and returns.

In order to allow for the effective deployments from the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps as of 1 January 2020, certain decisions and implementing measures should be taken and put in place as soon as possible. In particular, by way of derogation from the normal deadline set in the Regulation, the decision of the Management Board on the profiles of the Agency standing corps should be adopted within 6 weeks of the entry into force of the Regulation and the nominations of opertional staff to the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps by Member States within 12 weeks of the entry into force of the Regulation.

At the same time, in order to ensure the continuity of the support for operational activities organised by the Agency, all the deployments until 31 December 2019 should be planned and implemented, including under the Rapid Reaction Pool, in accordance with Articles 20, 30 and 31 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1624 and in accordance with the annual bilateral negotiations carried out in 2018. These provisions should be only repealed with effect from 1 January 2020.

This proposal builds on the existing border management policy and toolbox, in particular the European Border and Coast Guard established by Regulation (EU) No 2016/1624. Over the past two years, the operationalisation of the European Border and Coast Guard has delivered the first cycles of vulnerability assessments and setting up the rapid reaction pools to respond to emergency situations. Through the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps of 10,000 operational staff the capabilities of the Agency, and therefore of the Union, will be

further expanded to respond effectively to present or future threats and challenges at the external borders by proactively reinforcing, assessing, and coordinating the actions of Member States at the external borders and with third countries as well as to step up returns.

Through the integration of the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) in the legislative instrument establishing the European Border and Coast Guard, the proposal further fosters a spirit of cooperation, information exchange and the coordination of efforts between the Member States and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, as well as among national authorities and Union Agencies, with concrete and binding commitments. It also builds upon Regulation (EU) No 656/20148 establishing rules for the surveillance of the external sea borders in the context of operational cooperation coordinated by Frontex.

The proposal clarifies the relation between vulnerability assessments carried out by the Agency and the Schengen evaluation mechanism established by Regulation (EU) No 1053/20139 in view of maximising synergies between these two mechanisms that are essential for European quality control on the functioning of the Schengen area.

This proposal builds upon and further develops those existing policy provisions and brings them together in the European Border and Coast Guard, thus establishing an integrated management system for external borders at Union level as provided for in Article 77(2)(d) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

• Consistency with other Union policies

This proposal is consistent with the comprehensive long-term policy on better migration management as set out by the Commission in the European Agenda on Migration, which developed President Juncker’s Political Guidelines into a set of coherent and mutually reinforcing initiatives based on four pillars. Those pillars consist of reducing the incentive for irregular migration, securing external borders and saving lives, a strong asylum policy and a new policy on legal migration. This proposal further implements the European Agenda on Migration, more specifically as regards the objective of securing external borders as the European Border and Coast Guard will implement European Integrated Border Management. Moreover, it responds to the request of the European Council for strengthening further the supportive role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, including in the cooperation with third countries, through increased resources and an enhanced mandate, with a view to ensure the effective control of the EU's external borders and significantly stepping up the effective return of irregular migrants.

Regulation (EU) No 656/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 establishing rules for the surveillance of the external sea borders in the context of operational cooperation coordinated by the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (OJ L 189, 27.6.2014, p. 93). Council Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 of 7 October 2013 establishing an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis and repealing the Decision of the Executive Committee of 16 September 1998 setting up a Standing Committee on the evaluation and implementation of Schengen (OJ L 295, 6.11.2013, p. 27).

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2. LEGALBASIS, SUBSIDIARITYAND PROPORTIONALITY

• Legal basis

This legislative proposal is based on Article 77(2)(b) and (d) and Article 79(2)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Article 77(1)(b) and (d) provides that the Union shall develop a policy with a view to carrying out checks on persons and efficient monitoring of the crossing of external borders, and the gradual introduction of an integrated management system for external borders. For those purposes, under Article 77(2)(b) and (d), the European Parliament and the Council acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall adopt measures concerning the checks to which persons crossing external borders are subject, and any measure necessary for the gradual establishment of an integrated management system for external borders.

Article 79(2)(c) authorises the European Parliament and the Council to adopt measures in the area of irregular immigration and unauthorised residence, including removal and repatriation of persons residing without authorisation.

• Subsidiarity

The objective of this proposal is to ensure a European Integrated Border Management of the EU’s external borders, with a view to managing migration effectively and ensuring a high level of security within the Union, while safeguarding the free movement of persons therein. In an area without internal borders, irregular migration through the external borders of one Member State affects all other Member States within the Schengen area. An area without internal borders is only sustainable if the external borders are effectively secured and protected.

Since the control of the Union’s external borders is a common and shared interest which must be carried out in accordance with high and uniform Union standards, the objectives of this proposal cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Members States, and can be better accomplished at the level of the Union, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union.

• Proportionality

The proposal is intended to respond to the new challenges and political realities faced by the Union, both as regards migration management and internal security. It reinforces a tool box of capabilities available to the European Border and Coast Guard, notably by setting up the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps of 10 000 operational staff to comprehensively deal with challenges in the management of EU borders and return. It ensures that rules on integrated border management are fully and correctly implemented by Member States in line with one coherent multiannual strategic policy cycle, that appropriate action is taken to prevent crisis situations and to respond effectively at an early stage at the external borders if such a situation arises and it is only when the situation becomes more critical, that urgent action is taken at Union level for direct intervention on the ground. In view of its objectives and in accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

• Choice of the instrument

As explained in Chapter 1, the creation of European Border and Coast Guard standing corps and setting of the necessary accompanying measures constitute new essential elements significantly impacting on the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard. Given the importance of these changes, it is necessary to amend the Regulation (EU) 2016/1624 on the European Border and Coast Guard. It is also an opportunity to better integrate the amended EUROSUR in the European Border and Coast Guard by encompassing the amended elements of Regulation (EU) n° 1052/2013 establishing the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) into the new Regulation as concluded in the evaluation of the EUROSUR Regulation.

Indeed, only a regulation can provide for the necessary degree of uniformity required for ensuring the integrated management of the external borders and to ensure the effective role of the Agency in returns. Moreover, having regard to the fact that the European Border and Coast Guard and EUROSUR were established by means of a Regulation, the same legal instrument is also appropriate for this proposal amending and merging the two Regulations.

• Fundamental rights

This proposal respects fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised, in particular, by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. All activities of the European Border and Coast Guard, as regards both the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and the Member States' authorities competent for management of borders and return shall be carried out in full respect of fundamental rights as enshrined in the Charter, including the right to asylum (Article 18 of the Charter), the protection from refoulement (Article 19 of the Charter), the right to respect for private and family life (Article 7 of the Charter), the right to protection of personal data (Article 8 of the Charter) and the right to an effective remedy (Article 47 of the Charter). The proposal fully takes into account the rights of the child and the special needs of persons in a vulnerable situation.

The proposal is thus in line with Articles 2 and 6 of the Treaty on European Union and with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

3. BUDGETARYIMPLICATIONS

The EU contribution for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency already forms part of the Union’s budget as based on the Legislative Financial Statement accompanying the Commission proposal for the Regulation establishing the European Border and Coast Guard. In addition, some additional resources were identified for the Agency in the Legal Financial Statement accompanying the Commission's proposals for ETIAS and the Interoperability package.

To set up the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps and acquiring the Agency's own equipment, as well as to adequately address other new or upgraded tasks foreseen in this proposal, an amount of EUR 577,5 million needs to be added to the existing EU contribution for 2019 and 2020 under the current Multiannual Financial Framework, which may require the use of special instruments foreseen in the MFF Regulation. For the period of 2021-2027, a

total EU contribution of EUR 11 270 million will be needed to cover the upgraded tasks and functions of the Agency, largely related to the implementation of the European Border and Coast standing corps and the acquisition of the Agency's own equipment. These amounts will be complemented by the corresponding contribution of the Schengen associated countries.

The EU contribution requested for the 2021-2027 period can be financed within the ceilings set out in the MFF proposal of 2 May 2018.

As for the human resources, the Agency was expected to reach 1,000 staff members by 2020. In order to establish the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps, the Agency will be allocated with additional posts: starting with 750 posts in 2019 and reaching 3,000 posts by 2025. These additional posts will be equally split between temporary agents and contractual agents. The new posts will be largely used to recruit and train operational staff members under Category 1 of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps. However, this category will also include staff members foreseen for setting up and operating the ETIAS's Central unit.

Moreover, within the above-mentioned figure of 3,000 posts, the Agency could use up to 4% of the total size of the standing corps to recruit staff members to support the establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps (recruitment, daily management, operational planning etc), staffing of opertional antennas, the acquisition of the Agency's equipment, other new tasks related to the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard, including EUROSUR, the reinforced mandate for returns and the takeover of FADO.

In addition to the Agency's budget, within the Funds in the area of migration and border management, there will be support for the implementation of the expanded EUROSUR on the side of Member States, via the existing resources from the Internal Security Fund Border and Visa in 2020 (EUR 52,5 million) and the future Integrated Border Management Fund (EUR 647,5 million) in the period of 2021-2027, 10% of these resources being allocated to EUROSUR. The relevant actions will be implemented in shared or direct management.

The revised Framework Financial Regulation for decentralised agencies, including reinforced rules on governance of these agencies in the area of fraud, irregularities, conflict of interest rules and internal control will supplement the rules contained in this proposal.

4. Preparatory process and stakeholder consultations

In 2017 the Commission addressed, five progress reports to the European Council, the European Parliament and the Council, giving record to the progress achieved on the European Border and Coast Guard operationalisation as well as analysing the shortcomings encountered. These reports were often followed by discussions in the Council and presentations in the relevant committees of the European Parliament.

In its February Communication10, the Commission has set priorities and several options for the future Multi-annual financial framework of the Union with a strong and fully operational European Border and Coast Guard at the core of a fully integrated European integrated border

10 Commission Communication 'A new, modern Multiannual Financial Framework for a European Union

that delivers efficiently on its priorities post-2020’, COM(2018) 98 final.

In its Communication of 2 May 201811

management system. In its Communication of 2 May 2018 accompanying the proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the Commission reiterated its commitment to work towards this objective and proposed to create a standing corps of around 10,000 border guards.

On 5 July, the Agency's Management Board held an informal workshop to discuss the future legal framework of the Agency and a written record of the meeting together with separate positions of 8 Member States has been submitted for the attention of the Commission. Moreover, the new mandate of the Agency was discussed on 9 July at the meeting of the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum, where the Member States' representatives expressed their preliminary views on the ideas contained in the MFF proposal. As regards EUROSUR, in line with Article 22(3) of Regulation No 1052/2013, the Commission carried out an overall evaluation of EUROSUR. The report from this evaluation is annexed to the proposal. The evaluation report concluded that the EUROSUR framework has met its objectives but that the functioning of EUROSUR could be improved by evolving from a technical information system into a governance framework for information exchange and cooperation. Follow up consultations have taken place with the Expert Group on EUROSUR, which was set up and managed by the Agency to support the implementation of EUROSUR, and with a dedicated expert group on EUROSUR, established by the Commission to discuss and follow the evaluation process and discuss possible amendments to the existing Regulation. On 6th and 7th February 2018, the Commission set up a dedicated workshop to discuss the technological and industrial aspects of EUROSUR with industry representatives, researchers and governmental experts from Member States, EU institutions and Agencies. In order to assess the cost/benefit of the various changes envisaged by the proposal, the Commission has procured a study to assess the impacts of various options related to possible evolutions of the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur)

Taking into account the call of the European Council of 28 June 2018 for further strenghtening the supportive role of the Agency through an enhanced mandate, and the necessity to address this call in an appropriate timeline, it was decided not to carry out an Impact Assessment.

5. Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

The proposal (Art.8) introduces a multiannual strategic policy cycle for European Integrated Border Management as a way to ensure the effective implementation of the European Integrated Border Management by the European Border and Coast Guard. The multiannual cycle will establish an interoperable, unified and continuous process to provide strategic guidelines to all the relevant actors at the level of the Union and in the Member States in the area of border management and returns to implement the European Integrated Border Management in a coherent, integrated and methodological manner. The cycle will start

Commission Communication 'A Modern Budget for a Union that Protects, Empowers and Defends The Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027’, COM(2018) 321.

11

with political steering for the European Integrated Border Management provided in the form of a Commission delegated act, which will then be implemented through the technical and operational strategy prepared by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and national strategies prepared by the Member States. An evaluation assessing the implementation of these three stages will be completed in view of the preparation of the next cycle.

The main elements of the proposal to set up the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps, accompanied by improvements of other key capabilities (see in particular Article 5 (2), 55 to 60, 63 and 64).

– The essential elements related to the European Border and Coast Guard

standing corps are explained in Chapter 1 above, especially as regards its composition, size, scope of activities, mandatory nature and the application of executive powers.

– To accommodate the composite nature of the standing corps, the proposal

introduces the concept of operational staff of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps as being border guards, return escorts, return specialists and other relevant staff. They will be deployable in the framework of three types of teams: border management, return and migration management support.

– The individual contributions of Member States to the European Border

and Coast Guard standing corps are defined in accordance with Annexes IV and V. The breakdown of these individual contributions is based on the distribution key agreed for the Rapid Reaction Pool as set out in Annex I to the current European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.

– The functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps and

its composition shall be subject to a midterm review carried out by the Commission. Based on the midterm review, the Commission may consider amending the relevant annexes.

– In order to ensure a common professional culture, specific training and a

uniform should be provided to the teams deployed from the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps.

– In view of deployment of teams from the European Border and Coast Guard

standing corps in the territory of third countries, the Agency should develop the capabilities for their own command and control structures.

– To overcome the persistent gaps in the voluntary pooling of technical

equipment from Member States, in particular as regards large-scale assets, the Agency should have its own equipment to be deployed in joint operations or rapid border interventions or any other operational activities. While the Agency has been legally able to acquire or lease its own technical equipment since 2011, this possibility was significantly hindered by the lack of budgetary resources. With the adoption of the 2016 Regulation, the Agency was provided with a dedicated budget of EUR 40 million to acquire small and medium size equipment and the Agency has made progress to use these opportunities. As a

natural consequence of these developments as well as to match the level of ambition underlying the establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps, the Commission earmarked a significant envelope under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework to allow the Agency to acquire, maintain and operate the necessary air, sea and land assets

corresponding to the operational needs.

– While the acquisition of the necessary assets could be a lengthy process,

especially for large assets, the Agency's own equipment should ultimately become the backbone of the operational deployments with additional contributions of Member States to be called upon in exceptional circumstances. The Agency's equipment should be largely operated by the Agency's technical crews part of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps. In order to ensure the effective use of the proposed financial resources for the Agency's own equipment, the process shall be based on a multiannual strategy decided as early as possible by the management board and accompanied by an action plan.

– To facilitate the work of the Agency in the Member States which are hosting its

operational activities at the external borders and those related to returns, the Agency will have the possibility to establish antenna offices situated in those Member States for the period for which its operational activities are on-going. The role of these antenna offices will be to serve as an interface between the Agency and the host Member States, to ensure coordination, communication and logistical support and to guarantee the smooth running of all processes related to those operational activities. They will be set up in locations situated in geographical proximity to the areas where operational activities takes place.

The proposal (Articles 9 and 67) establishes a framework for integrated planning of the European Border and Coast Guard. This planning will integrate the various planning processes of the Border Guards and Return authorities of Member States and of the Agency in the short, medium and long term. Integrated planning will follow the multiannual strategic policy cycle for the European Integrated Border Management.

– The proposal establishes a standard methodology for planning against

scenarios established by the Agency. These scenarios based on risk analysis will take into account the geopolitical context and will be approved by the Agency's Management Board.

– The proposal introduces capability development planning for the European

Border and Coast Guard. The capability development planning established by this proposal is a mechanism aiming at confronting and converging the long term plans of Member States and of the Agency with a view to identify opportunities in the areas of training and education, technical and operational standardisation; joint procurement of equipment, and Research and Development. The Agency will acquire new capabilities to support Member

States’ individual needs; it will also play a key role in coordinating capability development for the whole European Border and Coast Guard.

– The capability development planning processes will result in a capability

roadmap for the European Border and Coast Guard, which will be approved by the Agency's Management Board and annexed to the technical and operational integrated border management strategy. This capability roadmap will give strategic orientations to the capability development of the European Border and Coast Guard. The capability roadmap will lead to the establishment of procurement plans and technology roadmaps. These procurement plans will help Member States and the Agency for the acquisition and leasing of technical equipment12 and the technology roadmaps will support the Agency in identifying key research themes13 and will be taken into account for the programming of the EU instruments supporting both operational and research activities in the area of Integrated Border Management and Returns.

– The proposal strengthens existing requirements for contingency planning at

the level of Member States as part of the overall process of integrated planning. Contingency planning shall address all the necessary measures and resources to allow for the possible reinforcement of capabilities including logistics and support when confronted with higher impact levels at external borders including the capacities to support the deployment of additional capabilities coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. These plans should continue to be subject to the quality control mechanism as part of the Vulnerability assessment mechanism.

– In the short term, operational planning will be coordinated between the

2.

Member States and with the Agency in the framework of EUROSUR in line with the planning processes of Joint Border operations established by the


Agency.14

The proposal ( Article 18 and following) incorporates EUROSUR in the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation as a necessary element of the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard.

– EUROSUR evolves into a governance framework for the exchange of

information and for the cooperation between the national authorities of Member States responsible for border management and the Agency building upon the various information systems used by the Member States and the Agency and enlarging and expanding the role and competences of the national coordination centres.

– The proposal simplifies the existing elements of the current EUROSUR

Regulation and improves the reactivity of EUROSUR. Some of the

3.

12 13 14


In line with Article 38 of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.

In line with Article 37 of European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.

As described in Article 16 of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.

technical parts of the current EUROSUR Regulation will be moved into implementing acts to provide more clarity in the technical implementation, to allow more flexibility and possible operational updates, while ensuring their binding character.

The proposal enlarges the current scope of EUROSUR from land and sea border surveillance to border control (by adding checks at border crossing points and air border surveillance which were currently reported on a voluntary basis by Member States) in order to provide an exhaustive situational awareness at external borders and expand the range of reaction capacities. The Agency will develop new types of inter-agency cooperation with the authorities of the aviation sector to better detect and respond to the new threats induced by aircrafts and drones.

The proposal reinforces the situational awareness, risk analysis, prevention and responsiveness of the European Border and Coast Guard in the following aspects:

– In order to strengthen the risk analysis function of the European Border and

Coast Guard, the various information sources and methodologies, the border sections and impact levels of EUROSUR and those that are used by the Agency and the Member States through the common integrated risk assessment methodology (CIRAM) by the Frontex Risk Assessment Network (FRAN) and of the vulnerability assessments will be aligned (Article 31).

– Building on EUROSUR, the proposal improves the situational awareness of

the European Border and Coast Guard (Article 29). It merges the current common pre-frontier intelligence picture, which gathers information on the pre-frontier area, with the European situational picture, which corresponds in the current Regulation to information collected within the Schengen area. Secondary movements are now part of the situational pictures to assess the migratory situation at EU external borders both at strategic and tactical levels. Member States and the Agency will now benefit from and contribute to this information directly in EUROSUR via the National Coordination Centres.

– The mechanism of EUROSUR fusion services is formally established (Article

29) to replace the “common application of surveillance tools” referred to in the current EUROSUR Regulation. Through the EUROSUR Fusion Services, the Agency supplies the national coordination centres and itself with relevant information related to external borders. The EUROSUR Fusion Services continue to be delivered through cooperation between the Agency and third parties. The Agency will continue using the earth observation satellite services under the Copernicus space programme to monitor the pre-frontier area but will develop new EUROSUR fusion services with other EU agencies and international partners to match the new scope of EUROSUR. For instance, such interagency cooperation should be set up in the area of air border surveillance between the Agency, the network manager of the European air traffic management network (EUROCONTROL) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

– The proposal (Article 30) introduces the requirement of a strategic risk

analysis for the European Integrated Border Management to be prepared by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency every two years to present some long-term insights and analysis for the upcoming years. This analysis would serve as a starting point for the Commission to launch the multiannual strategic policy cycle for the European Integrated Border Management. The strategic risk analysis will contribute to high-level scenarios on which the integrated planning will rely.

– Given that the vulnerability assessments and the Schengen evaluation

mechanism established by Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 are two complementary mechanisms for guaranteeing the European quality control on the proper functioning of the Schengen area, clear arrangements for a regular exchange of information on their results needs to be established between the Commission and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to maximise the synergies between those mechanisms (Article 34).

– In order to better address crisis situations where, at the level of a border

section, the situation is such that the functioning of the Schengen area is put at risk, an additional, fourth “critical” impact level is created in EUROSUR. The “critical” impact level will automatically trigger a response by the standing corps of the EU border and coast guard Agency Article 35, 36 and 42).

– As regards migration management support teams, the Commission is

proposing new provisions (in Article 41) to ensure coherence with its amended proposal for a Regulation on the European Union Agency for Asylum which is being presented with this proposal. The Commission proposes to broaden the scope for triggering the use of migration management support teams – their deployment is subject to a request from the Member State concerned but it is no longer limited to circumstances of disproportionate migratory challenges. The Commission will be in charge of the coordination on the ground, as already reflected in the current Regulation, as well as the coordination of the requests from Member States and the assessment of needs. This would ensure coherence between the different actions by the relevant Union agencies as well as synergies of resources of the Agencies and the Member States.

– Building on the current provisions, the proposal (Article 42) consolidates the

role of the Executive Director to propose to the Member State concerned concrete operational activities of the Agency when justified by the results of the vulnerability assessment, risk analysis or when a critical impact is attributed to one or more border sections. In case of the lack of cooperation for such proposed actions, the Commission should be notified in view of assessing and deciding whether further action may be needed in accordance with Article 43 addressing the situation at EU external border requiring urgent action.

The proposal improves information exchange and cooperation within the European Border and Coast Guard (see in general Article 12) :

Implementing acts will further specify the type of information to be provided, in the framework of EUROSUR but also the entities responsible for collecting, processing, archiving and transmitting specific information, the maximum delays for reporting, the data security and data protection principles (see e.g. Article 25).

The Agency

will monitor in real time both the technical status of the

networks and systems and the quality of the information that is reported by Member States and share it with the users as an essential element of the reliability of the EUROSUR framework (Article 24).

– The Communication Network was developed in the framework of the current

EUROSUR regulation and is capable of exchanging EU Classified Information between the Member States and the Agency. This Communication Network is now used (Article 14 and 15) for all the information exchanges between the different components of the European Border and Coast Guard and its level of classification is increased from RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED to CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL to improve information security and confidence among the actors.

– The Agency will develop technical standards to improve information

exchange while information assurance is reinforced via the national Coordination Centres (Article 16).

The proposal improves the EU response in the area of returns with regard to the following aspects (see Article 49 and following).

– This proposal further expands the mandate of the Agency to provide technical

and operational assistance to Member States in return procedures, without prejudice to the latters' responsibility for issuing return decisions, including for the preparation of return decisions, identification of third country nationals and other pre-return and return-related activities of the Member States.

– To further assist Member States, the Agency is also tasked with:

– developing a reference model for a return case management system

prescribing the structure of national return management systems;

– supporting the development of their national systems or aligning them

with the model;

– setting up a central system and a communication infrastructure

with/between national return management systems and the central system for processing all information and data necessary for the Agency to provide technical and operational assistance in accordance with the Regulation.

– Increased cooperation with third countries: providing assistance in the

4.

return activities of and in third countries, including by deploying the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps in third countries, as well as by


reinforced cooperation with the authorities of third countries on return, including as regards the acquisition of travel documents.

– Strengthen the mandate of the Agency to process personal data in

connection with its activities in the area of return, as well as in the exchange of information with third countries and international organisations with regard to return activities.

The proposal improves the external dimension of the European Border and Coast (see Articles 72 to 79):

– The European Border and Coast Guard will be enabled to act in third countries

without limitation to neighbouring third countries, including in the area of return as specified above.

– The proposal describes under which conditions the Agency will offer

technical and operational assistance to third countries. The Agency’s operations could take place at any borders of the third country concerned, where appropriate, with the agreement of the Member State(s) bordering the operational area.

– The proposal improves information exchange with third countries in the

framework of EUROSUR via the National Coordination Centres while preserving historical relationships between Member States and third countries., Provisions will detail under which conditions data will be exchanged with, and EUROSUR fusion services could be provided to, third countries' authorities.

– In line with the Commission proposal on the creation of a European network of

immigration liaison officers (recast), the role of the immigration liaison officer for information exchange and cooperation is acknowledged. In addition to the European network of immigration liaison officers, the links with the national coordination centres and with the Agency are formally established.

– The role of the Commission with regard to cooperation with third

countries is clarified: the Commission supports the Member States and the Agency in the area of cooperation with third countries by preparing model provisions and verifying if the relevant provisions of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and working arrangements are compliant with the Regulation.

Finally, building on the Council conclusions of 27 March 2017, the Commission proposes to integrate the False and Authentic Documents Online (FADO) system into the European Border and Coast Guard framework. FADO is a European image system designed for exchanging information among Member States on genuine and false documents, and is currently managed by the Council General Secretariat. Such a common and shared Union image system is a very useful tool for fighting document fraud, as it makes detection of false documents easier. Integrating FADO to the European Border and Coast Guard framework will allow the Agency to take over and manage the system. The integration of FADO will deliver the following outcomes (Article 80):

– In order to support Member States checking the authenticity of documents at

the border, the proposal entrusts the Agency to take over and adapt the False and Authentic Documents Online (FADO) system to current and future requirements. The Council Joint Action of 3 December 1998, 98/700/JHA will be repealed in its entirety and replaced by a legal basis in the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation, enabling the Agency to take over the current system. The implementation provisions will be set out by implementing acts. This would ensure the involvement of Member States' experts (via the existing Article 6 committee) and would also allow adapting the system to future needs.

– The multi-layered structure of FADO systems should be kept as it is

necessary to provide different levels of information on documents to different stakeholders, including the general public. Regarding the transitional period, it should be ensured that the current FADO system remains functional until the new system becomes operational and that the existing data are transferred to the new system with the agreement of Member States as owners of the data.

Finally, the proposal also addresses several aspects of the Agency's governance and administrative matters:

– given the establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard standing

corps as well as the overall expansion of the Agency's mandate, in particular in the area of returns, to appoint three deputy executive directors instead of one as foreseen under the current Regulation (Article 105). All these three deputy executive directors should be assigned a specific area of responsibility.

– Because of the fundamental importance of the Agency as part of the European

Border and Coast Guard responsible for the integrated management of the external borders, and the role of the Commission with regard to the multiannual strategic policy cycle for European Integrated Border Management (see Article 8), the responsibility of the Commission in the framework of the Agency's governance should be brought in line with the principles of the common approach on Union decentralised agencies adopted on 12 July 2012 by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission (e.g. with regard to the appointment of the deputy executive directors, Article 105).

– The proposal establishes a Committee to assist the Commission in preparing a

number of implementing acts foreseen in the Regulation. However, as far as FADO is concerned, the existing Article 6 Committee should be used (Article 117).

The proposal repeats the provisions of the current Regulation in relation to Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The Commission considers the above-mentioned changes as essential to guarantee that the European Border and Coast Guard is well-equipped, efficient and fully operational to ensure an effective support to the Member States for the protection of Union external borders.