The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission communication (COM(2002) 233 – C5&nbhy;0505/2002),

–   having regard to the Plan for the management of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union, adopted by the Council on 13 June 2002,

–   having regard to the conclusions of the Seville European Council of 21 and 22 June 2002 relating to the gradual introduction of coordinated, integrated management of external borders,

–   having regard to the activities of the Workshop on Police and Border Security, co&nbhy;financed through the OISIN Programme, which was held in Austria under the aegis of the Interior Ministries of Austria, Belgium and Finland, and to the subsequent final report dated 10 September 2002(1),

–   having regard to the feasibility study, carried out under Italy's leadership, concerning the establishment of a European border police force(2),

–   having regard to Rules 163 and 47(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs (A5&nbhy;0449/2002),

A.   whereas, in the light of the current threats from organised crime, illegal immigration, trafficking in human beings and drug trafficking, etc., internal security has become more and more a core topic and, hence, a matter of concern to Europe's citizens,

B.   whereas the external borders continue to constitute a weak link in the overall internal security system, and whereas effective protection against threats is a crucial precondition for any guarantee of internal security and the implementation of the principle of freedom of movement,

C.   whereas European citizens expect the European Union to provide operational concepts in areas where the Member States themselves are no longer able to guarantee adequate security,

D.   whereas, by taking consistent measures in the field of border security, the EU may provide its citizens with greater security than that which may be achieved by purely national measures,

E.   whereas, although the legal and operative components of the Schengen acquis have been incorporated into the European Union's institutional framework, security measures must be taken in part under the first and, in part, under the third pillar; whereas that leads to misunderstandings about the sources of legal standards, on the one hand, and about the organisation of the relevant national authorities, on the other,

F.   whereas, because of the different starting positions, training and equipment of border guards and the transposition of the Schengen acquis in the Member States, problems are already occurring at the current external borders,

G.   whereas, as a result of enlargement, the new Member States will gradually take over the task of ensuring security at the external borders, with a considerable proportion of responsibility being transferred to those countries,

H.   whereas, although security at external borders continues to constitute an essentially national matter and must be managed at national level, increased efficacy of border protection may be achieved principally by means of measures taken at European level,

I.   whereas the absence of a common asylum and immigration policy, combined with integrated management of the external borders, has resulted in an increase in the number of illegal crossings of external borders,

1.  Approves the Council's Plan;

Analysis and redefinition of tasks

2.  Deems it necessary to define the tasks at the external borders afresh and as a common standard in accordance with experience acquired;

3.  Deems it wise to have drawn up an analysis of operational practice in the transposition of the Schengen acquis so as to be able to develop a common policy for the surveillance of the current and future external borders;

4.  Welcomes the Council decision to have the Common Manual on border protection revised and, subsequently, to confer normative status on what the Member States have found to be best practice;

5.  Calls for compliance with the provisions of the Common Manual to be verified at regular intervals by a common monitoring body;

Operational coordination and cooperation

6.  Welcomes most of the measures proposed in the Plan for operational coordination and cooperation but deems the International Airports Plan to be inappropriate for the devising and testing of standard procedures, which might then, in accordance with the Plan, be applied at other external borders, since the situation at airports is clearly very specific and one which is totally different from every other border situation;

Uniform further training

7.  Calls on the Council to implement at long last the joint basic and further training provided for in Article 7 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders(3);

8.  Welcomes the Council proposal that a common syllabus be drawn up for the basic and further training of border guards;

9.  Proposes that a European Staff College be established, with the training provided there creating a multiplier effect so that Europe-wide standards may be guaranteed;

10.  Calls on the Commission to fund with immediate effect projects for the establishment of uniform training standards and operational standards by means of the ARGO programme, with regard to the endowment of which its Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs has proposed an increase of EUR 3 million for border protection alone in 2003;

Compatibility of equipment

11.  Calls for measures to be taken to ensure the compatibility of technical equipment;

12.  Deems it necessary for future radar and satellite-based surveillance systems to be designed in such a way that cooperation between Member States may run smoothly and calls, therefore, for support for the development of new technologies which will facilitate border controls at European level;

13.  Calls on the Council to draw up proposals for uniform procurement of mobile surveillance equipment which may be used, as required, for temporarily sensitive sections of the EU's external borders;

Risk analysis

14.  Calls for Europol to draw up an integrated risk analysis model and for the situation reports drawn up to be constantly updated and made available to the Member States;

15.  Calls, with a view to potential synergies, for cooperation between Schengen and Europol for the successful accomplishment of specific tasks, such as the fight against people smugglers;

Steering Committee

16.  Calls on the Council to ensure that, despite the organisational splitting of the Council Working Party on Schengen Evaluation (SCH-EVAL) from the newly created SCIFA+ body, in which the Strategic Committee for Immigration and Asylum works together with the Heads of national Border Control Services, the findings of the two Council working parties are combined;

European Corps of Border Guards

17.  Regrets that, in its Plan, the Council has said very little about the idea of a European Corps of Border Guards;

18.  Endorses the setting up of a jointly financed European Corps of Border Guards, consisting of specialist units, which would, in an emergency and at the request of the Member States, be temporarily seconded to assist national authorities at vulnerable sections of the EU's external borders;

19.  Takes the view that a new legal basis is required for the establishment of a European Corps of Border Guards and calls, therefore, on the European Convention to debate this issue so that, in the medium term, the idea of a joint Corps of Border Guards may be implemented;

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20.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission and to the parliaments of the Member States.

(1) Austria, Belgium and Finland, OISIN-Programme, "Police and Border Security: Final Report and Proposals", 10 September 2002. (2) Feasibility study for the setting up of a "European Border Police", Final Report, Rome, 30 May 2002. (3) OJ L 239, 22.9.2000, p. 19.