Migration CRISIS: Germans and French back plan for 2,500-strong border force
GERMANY and France last night backed plans for a new 2,500-strong border force to try to stem the EU’s migration crisis.
By MACER HALL
Express.co.uk
Fri, Dec 18, 2015
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande agreed to support the move during talks at an EU summit in Brussels.
The proposed force, which also includes a coastguard, is set to get sweeping powers to deploy armed guards on the bloc’s external borders.
Britain is not expected to be part of the formation of the scheme which is focused on the Schengen passport-check free zone, but could be asked to contribute border guards in the future.
The scheme is chiefly aimed at protecting Europe’s external borders in countries like Greece and Italy as they struggle to manage the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty for better lives in Europe.
But the idea that the agency could send coastguard vessels, planes or other assets to a country even if it opposes the deployment is reviving old fears about a loss of national sovereignty to unelected officials at the EU’s executive Commission in Brussels.
Countries further north in Europe like Germany and Sweden – the preferred destinations of many migrants – are keen to have tighter controls to ease the flow of people, as is France.
“The external borders must be protected. I’m entirely in agreement with the proposal from the European Commission on a border guard,” French President Francois Hollande said at the EU summit in Brussels.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said she “very strongly supports” the plan.
The Rest…HERE
