Answer given by Mr Avramopoulos on behalf of the European Commission

7.5.2019

The newly adopted Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG) foresees that all members of the standing corps shall be able to carry out border control or return tasks, including the tasks requiring executive powers.

These tasks are defined in the relevant national laws or, for the staff of the EBCG Agency, in the article 56(5) of the regulation and will be applicable once the regulation will be formally adopted.

For the Agency’s statutory staff, they include, among others, verification of the identity and nationality of persons and authorisation or refusal of entry upon border check carried out at the border crossing points.

However, a description of the tasks, including those requiring executive powers, should be included in the operational plans agreed between the EBCG Agency and the host Member States. Deployed staff needs to possess the necessary language skills to perform their duties at the place of their deployment.

The agreement reached supports the Commission’s initial proposal of standing corps of 10 000. It foresees four categories of operational staff, which provides the flexibility to modulate the Agency's engagement according to the operational needs. Categories 1 and 2 staff (Agency’s statutory staff and staff seconded for long duration) are foreseen to be permanently available for deployment on operations, and their number is expected to progressively grow to reach 4 500 by 2027.

Category C and 4 staff (short-term deployments and Reserve for Rapid Reaction), while carrying out their regular duties in the framework of their assignments in the national administrations, will be only made available for deployment based on the additional operational needs, in particular in a crisis situation.