Poland will be the location of the EU’s new Border Control Agency (BCA). This is the first EU body to be placed in one of the 10 new member states. Hungary, Malta, Estonia and Slovenia were all contenders for the agency’s new site, but Poland won the final decision.
“Poland received the biggest support as the country with the longest eastern border and therefore also the strongest immigration pressures of the new member states," added Slovak Interior Minister Vladimir Palko.
The BCA will be concerned with monitoring how EU states patrol external borders. In the future, it will also help train border police and could eventually lead to the formation of a single border guard unit. Although agencies such as this have small budgets and low profiles, hosting one still brings about a bit of prestige for EU members. The agency is to begin functioning in early May.
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