The final report of the Conference ‘The Feasibility of a European System of Border Guards: A Practitioner’s Perspective’ was compiled by rapporteurs Dr Peter Hobbing and Mr Emilio De Capitani. The report is based on a conference held in Warsaw in October last year and constitutes a practitioners’ input to the ongoing discussion on the future of the justice and home affairs (JHA) area. The report has been shared with the European Commission, European Parliament and Council.
The ESBG Conference, co-organised by Frontex and the Academy of European Law (ERA), took place in Warsaw on the 28-29 October with the main objective of brainstorming on the feasibility of an ESBG as referred to in the Stockholm Programme, the five-year JHA framework that expires in 2014. The discussions focused on aspects of border management including operations, capacities and interagency cooperation as well as a number of key legislative developments and legal aspects related to the issue.
The findings and main recommendations demonstrate the importance of reassessing cooperation and coordination needs, not only among national border management authorities but also among other EU, national or third country actors playing critical roles in home affairs policies. Such an assessment should necessarily lead to the drafting of an EU integrated border management strategy aimed at more consistent EU and national actions when implementing a common border management policy heavily reliant on mutual trust and solidarity among the member states.