Pérez-Rubalcaba benadrukt belang personele en materiële middelen voor Frontex (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Spaans voorzitterschap Europese Unie 1e helft 2010 i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 25 mei 2010.

The Spanish Minister of Home Affairs, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and the Commissioner for Home Affairs of the European Commission, Cecilia Malmström. EFE

The Spanish Minister of Home Affairs, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, praised the efficiency of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex i) and underlined the importance of Member States providing this agency with the necessary human and material resources, and even the possibility that it could have its own resources and equipment in the future.

Pérez Rubalcaba made his statements during his speech at the conference on the “Future of Border Management in Europe including the role of Frontex”, held today in Warsaw and which was attended by the Commissioner for Home Affairs of the European Commission, Cecilia Malmström; and the executive director of Frontex (European Agency of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders), Ilkka Laitinen.

During his speech, Pérez Rubalcaba highlighted the role of Frontex in protecting the EU's external borders, citing its success in reducing the arrival of illegal immigrants to Spain. Between 2006 and 2009, arrivals to the mainland fell by 32%, and by 92% in the case of the Canary Islands.

The conference, held for the first time this year, was organised by Frontex to mark the European Day for Border Guards and coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the creation of the agency.

The aim of this initiative is to strengthen and improve the common management of external borders, to create a forum for discussing and exchanging experiences while, at the same time, informing the public about the work carried out by some 400,000 border guards who make up the different bodies dedicated to this task in the European Union.

The occasion also served to launch a debate on the future of border guards through a consultation process which includes governments, agencies, international organisation, industry and the academic community.