THE EUROPEAN BORDER AND COAST GUARD AGENCY WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

On 6th of October, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency was officially launched at Kapitan Andreevo check point at the Bulgarian border with Turkey.

The new agency will have the task to monitor and guard, jointly with the member states, the external borders of the European Union. The agency was established after 1 million migrants entered EU in 2015, unhindered and crossed the continent, opening the so called Balkan route and thus threatened the future of Schengen.

Border police officers from Romania, Netherlands, Germany and Poland are already deployed at the border. They are part of the new European unit for border and coast guard, which will provide security at the Bulgarian border with Turkey.

The technical equipment which will be put at the disposal of the new agency includes thermal imaging cameras and other surveillance equipment.

At the official opening of the new agency, it was highlighted that Bulgaria and Greece were not alone in the complex situation with the migration crisis. Bulgaria’s Minister of Interior, Roumyana Bachvarova thanked Frontex and the EU for the establishment of this agency and the assistance provided to Bulgaria.

“Reliable and secure external borders are the primary responsibility of all of us in the unprecedented migration and refugee crisis. In order to deal successfully with the situation we are in, we need shared responsibility and collective action by the Member States and the European institutions. I am confident that from today the new office for European Border and Coast Guard will contribute significantly to more efficient management of land, air and sea borders and will significantly increase the level of security in the EU”, Bachvarova said.