ROME Dec. 2007 – Another month of tragedies: 243 migrants and refugees were reported to be died in December: 120 people were drowned in the Aegean sea, 96 died off Canary islands, 17 along the Algerian coasts and 10 off the French island of Mayotte. It was one of the most tragical months along the EU’s borders. A month which began with the Euro-African summit in Lisbon, and ended with the Schengen area enlargement towards east and with the signing of the Italian-Libyan joint patrolling agreement. The 2007 bulletin reported 1,861 deaths of migrants and refugees trying to reach EU.

Background: Perfection of the Border Regime
The Border Package of the European Commission
05.Apr.08 - On February 13th, 2008, Franco Frattini, the Justice, Security and Freedom Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission, presented the European Commission's so-called Border Package, entitled 'A comprehensive vision for an integrated European border management system for the 21st century'.

Frontex, the EU agency based in Warsaw, was created as a specialised and independent body tasked to coordinate the operational cooperation between Member States in the field of border security. The activities of Frontex are intelligence driven. Frontex complements and provides particular added value to the national border management systems of the Member States.

In a recent article released by Reuters we read that "Fears that hordes of illegal immigrants would pour into the European Union once border controls for nine mostly Eastern European nations were abolished a month ago appear, at least for now, to have been unfounded." [1] According to the German Interior Minstry, some 6,000 police operate in mobile patrols in a 30-km (18-mile) wide strip at the German frontier, randomly checking one in 2,000 vehicles.