Fonds voor de buitengrenzen 2007-2013 – Slovenië
The Commission has adopted the multiannual programme under the External Borders Fund 2007-2013 for the Republic of Slovenia for an estimated amount of € 47 million, together with the first two annual programmes (2007 and 2008).
Vice President Jacques BARROT in charge of the Justice, Freedom and Security portfolio, welcomed the adoption of the multiannual programme for the implementation of the External Borders Fund. "The process of adapting Slovenia's state border control to the Schengen standards began in 1999, with the implementation of PHARE pre-accession programmes, the Transition and the Schengen Facilities. Building on this experience, with this multiannual programme, Slovenia has shown its commitment to meeting the challenges of border control on behalf of the EU in a rapidly changing globalised world."
Slovenia has chosen to implement all five of the Fund's strategic priorities:
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-Further gradual establishment of the common integrated border management system;
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-Development of the national components of a European Surveillance system and/or a permanent European Patrol Network at the southern maritime borders;
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-Support for the issuing of visas and the tackling of illegal immigration by the consular services of the Member States in third countries;
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-Establishment of IT systems required by Community rules on external borders and visas (VIS and SIS);
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-Application of the Community rules on external borders and visas, in particular the Schengen Borders Code and the European Code on Visas.
Among the projects financed in the 2007 and 2008 annual programmes in Slovenia are:
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-Improvement of infrastructure at border crossing points at Slovenia's external borders (inter alia Dobovec, Podplanina, Rigonce, Zgornji Leskovec, Babno Polje, Petrina, Vinica, Socerga, Obrežje);
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-Installation of the unified digital radio system - TETRA, enabling effective communication amongst national border control services and international actors;
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-Setting up a trilateral coordination center at Dolga Vas for exchange of information between the border services of Slovenia, Austria and Hungary;
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-Establishment of a Vessel Traffic Management and Information System (VTMIS) for control and prevention of illegal activities at the external sea border.
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Background:
The External Borders Fund is one of the four financial instruments of the General Programme on "Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows" which encourages a fair share of responsibilities between Member States arising from the introduction of integrated management of the external borders and from the implementation of common policies on asylum and immigration. The other three Funds are: the European Fund for the Integration of Third country nationals, the European Return Fund and the European Refugee Fund.
The External Borders Fund establishes a financial solidarity mechanism to support countries which endure, for the benefit of the Community, a lasting and heavy financial burden arising from the implementation of common standards on control and surveillance of external borders and visa policy.
The overall budget of this Fund for 2007-2013 is € 1820 million, distributed as follows:
€ 1543 million distributed among Member States on the basis of objective criteria expressing the burden of each state for external border control and visa policy for actions under national programmes;
€ 109 million (6%) directly managed by the Commission and dedicated to Community actions.
€ 108 million for the Kaliningrad transit scheme implemented by Lithuania
€ 60 million for specific actions at strategic border points at the external borders on the basis of risk analyses carried out by the FRONTEX Agency.
For more information on the activities of Vice-President Barrot, please see: