A major concern of the British public right now is illegal immigration. Therefore, Eurosceptics attack the EU on this, even though the UK is not subject to the Schengen open-borders agreement and has retained the right to control its own borders. Because of this, I thought it would be of interest to talk about an EU agency that is helping to tackle illegal immigration into Europe.

The EU’s "Frontex" external border agency has recently seen remarkable success. Frontex has been patrolling the waters between the northwest coast of Africa and Spain’s Canary Islands (one of the most popular, but also dangerous, entry points into the EU for illegal immigrants, often duped by traffickers). The right-wing media like to portray this entry point as a stop-gap before they attempt to enter the UK. Although for the most part this isn’t actually true, I’m sure they will be pleased to know that Frontex successfully reduced the numbers of illegal immigrants arriving at the Canary Islands by 60% in the first three months of this year. Not only that, Frontex has helped save over 1,000 lives so far on a route that claimed some 6,000 lives in 2006.

This week the EU agreed to deploy rapid reaction units, under Frontex, which will be made up of some 450 national experts, made available at short notice of up to five working days to any member state whose borders are under urgent and exceptional strain by illegal migration, notably when trafficking gangs are involved. Frontex now has at its disposal over 20 aeroplanes, nearly 30 helicopters and more than 100 vessels as well as a variety of other equipment.

Now, this is the sort of measure that the Daily Mail and suchlike would normally applaud. So, why aren't they? Because, of course, it's an EU agreemenst, and it wouldn't do to welcome anything done at European level!

For more information about Frontex click here.