Multiannual strategic policy for European integrated border management

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the Integrated Border Management Strategy of the European Union as a management tool that seeks to improve coordination and Member States' shared objectives in relation to external borders;
• stresses the importance of having a shared strategy for the better management of external borders, ensuring the internal security of the European Union and the safety of its residents, as well as the protection of fundamental rights and guarantees for the free movement of people within the EU;
• fully supports the EIBM strategic guideline stating that Frontex and the relevant authorities of the Member States should integrate fundamental rights safeguards throughout all their activities. The EESC urges the Commission and the Agency to revise the Fundamental Rights Strategy so as to include tangible objectives related to the work and impact of the fundamental rights monitors;
• recommends that the Commission uses the EIBM framework to require from each Member State a fundamental rights plan in the area of border management, mirroring and complementing that which guides the activity of Frontex;
• emphasises the need to set up a genuine Common European Asylum System that is effective, safe and secure, common and mandatory for the 27 Member States. Legal, safe and effective channels of access should be provided for immigration for work purposes. Effective and realistic legal and secure migration pathways to the EU are needed to facilitate a balanced migration policy;
• regrets that in the EIBM, the practice of pushbacks is not properly acknowledged and tackled and asks the Commission to devise clear plans in this respect and determine national border institutions to avoid these unacceptable practices;
• insists that under no circumstances should EU foreign policy or cooperation policy be conditional on the cooperation of countries of origin in return and readmission processes.