Paris, 3 December 2007 - The Assembly has called for the European Union (EU) to step up cooperation among national and regional agencies in order to improve surveillance of maritime borders in the fight against illegal trafficking and pollution from aging ships.

A report, presented Mr João Mota Amaral (Portugal, Federated Group) on Monday and adopted unanimously, listed a number of practical steps to be taken, including harmonisation of EU members’ rules and structures, the link-up of national positioning systems and databases, the use of the Torrejón EU Satellite Centre in Spain to monitor maritime movements and more funds to upgrade equipment.

The report, “Surveillance of Europe’s maritime frontiers – reply to the annual report of the Council’, stresses a global approach to tackling the problems of illegal immigration and drug trafficking, and criticises the fragmentation and lack of interoperability of maritime systems. Illegal immigration “is one of the great tragedies of our time”, Mr Mota Amaral said.

The Warsaw-based EU border security agency, Frontex, coordinates operational cooperation for managing members’ land and sea external borders and, in particular, created the Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs). The report notes that Frontex’s budget has been significantly increased, from 19 million euros in 2006 to 41 million euros in 2007.

It also suggests that a pan-European coastguard operation should be considered, but warns against duplicating national services. Mr Mota Amaral dismissed the idea of another European institution with its own “duties and more red tape”.

During the debate on the report, Mike Hancock (United Kingdom, Liberal Group) applauded the recommendations and pressed for “clearly defined areas of responsibility”, better training of troops, and for ships to be allowed pursue suspected offenders in neighbouring territorial waters. The EU needed common laws and common punishments for illegal traffickers and there should be zero tolerance for unseaworthy ships.

The report was a follow-up to a very successful seminar held in Lisbon at the invitation of Mr Jaime Gama, Speaker of the Portuguese Parliament, on 18 September, in the parliament’s premises in Lisbon. The seminar brought together more than 250 participants (including political and military representatives, diplomats and industrialists) from over 25 European countries (See Press release n° 30/2007).