December 18, 2015•Update: December 24, 2015
BRUSSELS
EU heads of government on Friday vowed to step up measures to stem the flow of refugees coming to the 28-nation bloc.
Facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II, the EU responded with plans to set up a new border and coast guard force and improving cooperation with neighboring non-EU states.
“Implementation is insufficient and has to be speeded up,” the European Council said in a statement. “For the integrity of Schengen to be safeguarded it is indispensable to regain control over the external borders.”
The Schengen zone is Europe’s border-free area that encompasses most EU members.
After meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, EU leaders agreed to conduct systematic checks on their country’s borders and to step up measures against human trafficking.
The EU summit followed the European Commission’s unveiling of the new European Border and Coast Guard, which will have more resources and greater powers than Frontex, the current EU-wide border force.
The agency will have at least 1,500 experts that can be deployed in less than three days using equipment provided by member states. By 2020, it will have 1,000 permanent staff - more than double the levels of Frontex, which reported 1.55 million irregular arrivals to the EU in the first 11 months of 2015.
