Subject: Europe unveils agency to protect its borders<br/>
Date: Nov 12, 2003 @ 15:12<br/>
Author: Bill Hanrahan (&quot;Bill Hanrahan&quot; &lt;hanrahan@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-2123641036">Europe unveils agency to protect its borders<br/>
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels<br/>
(Filed: 12/11/2003)<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Plans were unveiled yesterday for a pan-European border agency to help to<br/>
seal the European Union&#39;s new frontier after expansion next year.<br/>
<br/>
The fledgling agency is scheduled to start work in January 2005 with a £4<br/>
million budget and a staff of 30.<br/>
<br/>
The Agency for the Management of Operational Co-operation at the External<br/>
Borders will serve as a headquarters for air, sea, and land surveillance,<br/>
keeping watch on Poland, Slovakia, and the Baltic states that will soon have<br/>
the task of patrolling the EU&#39;s eastern borders.<br/>
<br/>
Antonio Vitorino, the EU justice commissioner, said the staff would take<br/>
instructions from an EU minister and would not be able to dictate strategic<br/>
policy. Britain hopes to join as long as the agency remains no more than a<br/>
co-ordinating body.</div>