EU Plans New Force to Police External Frontiers

Europe's external frontiers could be policed by a supranational EU corps of border guards to help combat crime, terrorism and illegal immigration, the European commission proposed yesterday.

In the latest move in a slow-moving strategy to forge common policies on asylum and immigration - a key factor in the recent success of rightwing parties in France and the Netherlands - Romano Prodi said Brussels was responding to people's fears.

"It is clear that if we move forward together, Europe can work more effectively," the commission president said. "We would like to reassure our citizens."

Specially-trained and equipped EU guards would operate from Gibraltar to the Arctic circle, where Finland borders Russia.

The commission is taking account of mounting evidence that millions of people in the 15 member states are becoming hostile to the eastern enlargement of the union, which could see up to 10 new members in 2004.

In Germany, in particular, anxiety is growing with the realisation that when Poland and the Czech Republic are in, the EU's external borders will be with Russia and Ukraine.

Mr Prodi and colleagues - like national governments - are sharply aware of the role played by worries about immigration in general, as shown by the performance of Jean-Marie Le Pen in France and the appeal of the murdered Dutch populist, Pim Fortuyn.

Rightwing, racist or anti-immigration parties have also made their mark over the last two years in Belgium and Denmark and are now part of the ruling coalition governments in Austria and Italy, riding a wave of public anxiety about immigration and crime.

But the commission proposals are highly controversial since they would directly affect issues of national sovereignty and have to be approved by member states before being implemented.

"The EU's external borders are still sometimes seen as the weak link in the chain," said Antonio Vitorino, the EU commissioner for justice and home affairs.

"Even if these are extremely delicate questions, I remain optimistic as I am aware that all the member states realise that European solutions are the only solutions to these transnational questions."

Britain would be unlikely to take part in any such border force because of its opt-out from the Schengen area, which has abolished frontier controls between EU member states.

Mr Prodi said he hoped that the EU's fledgling Galileo satellite navigation system could be used for surveillance of the EU's maritime borders, helping check the influx of boat people arriving on the southern shores of the continent.