Juncker: In September, border protection measures – 10,000 police officers coming in 2020

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced on Friday in Vienna that the Commission will propose new measures for the protection of the EU’s external borders in September.

– We agreed that the Commission will come out with a proposal on the protection of external borders in September, Juncker said in Vienna after a meeting of Commission members with the Austrian government, which took over the rotating presidency of the EU on July 1.

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It is already known that one of the proposed measures will be strengthening Frontex, which should have 10,000 members of the border and coast guard by 2020 instead of 2027 as previously planned. The question of Frontex’s mandate remains unclear, as it can only be deployed if a country requests it.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he is not entirely sure that all member states agree on strengthening Frontex’s mandate, but that it was evident in the discussions at the summit at the end of last month that many countries have changed their positions.

Recently, there has been a noticeable convergence of views within the EU regarding the need to protect external borders.

– In the first phase of the migrant crisis, the doors of the EU were breached, and now we are entering a phase where we will protect the external borders, which will be monitored by police, a source from the Commission said. The same source added that the EU “will never resort to pushing people away from its shores.”

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The focus on protecting external borders was recently criticized by Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who said it is a “fetishism of external borders.”

Juncker stated that he believes Asselborn’s remark is inaccurate, and Chancellor Kurz said that Asselborn represents a minority in the EU.

– Continuing the policy from 2015 is out of the question; a turnaround is needed. Many have changed their minds; he may not have, but it would be time for him to do so, Kurz said.