EU home affairs ministers discuss the European Border and Coast Guard

Minister of the Interior Kai Mykkänen will attend the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 12 October. Topics on the agenda include a strengthened European Border and Coast Guard, the Home Affairs Funds and the reform of the Common European Asylum System.

The EU home affairs ministers are expected to discuss the proposed regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, is part of the European Border and Coast Guard. A key change in the proposal is a new corps of 10,000 staff with executive powers and their own equipment to be created for Frontex.

"We must continue to reinforce control of the EU’s external borders. The primary responsibility for external border controls rests with Member States but Frontex has a key role in supporting control of the EU’s external borders and ensuring the functioning of the Schengen area. It is important for Finland that we find an effective and cost-efficient solution which takes account of the Member States’ and the Agency’s roles in external border controls, and the fact that the border sections under the responsibility of the Member States differ from each other," says Minister Mykkänen.

The ministers will also hold a policy debate on the Home Affairs Funds and the Commission’s proposals for the priorities of the next multiannual financial framework. They will discuss the Asylum and Migration Fund (AMIF), the Internal Security Fund (ISF) and the instrument for financial support for border management and visa.

"We should continue to support resettlement, namely the reception of quota refugees, with significant financial contributions through the Asylum and Migration Fund also during the next programming period. It is important for Finland that resources from the Fund would be used to support not only resettlement within the EU but also national resettlement programmes," says Minister Mykkänen.

Other issues on the agenda are migration and the Common European Asylum System. The ministers will discuss, among other things, the EU’s return policy and the reform of the Return Directive.

Inquiries

Laura Yli-Vakkuri, Director General, tel. +358 40 720 2216, [email protected]