Metsola’s EU border guards law gets strong approval from European Parliament

Metsola: Border guard law a win for Malta and Europe

The law protecting the external borders of the European Union, piloted and negotiated by Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola, can now be implemented after getting a strong and final approval from the European Parliament. 

The law was approved by 403 votes, with 162 against and 44 abstentions.

The negotiations on this law were done in a record time of six months, with MEP Roberta Metsola working round the clock for the new measures should become law before the European elections in May. “It was no easy task to convince other political groups and the EU Governments to stop their rhetoric on immigration and security, and get down to business. Nevertheless, we convinced, and we managed. When I was tasked with drafting a new European Border and Coast Guard law, no one thought we would be here today less than six months later with a deal on the table,” said Metsola. 

The new ‘Metsola law’ will see the addition of 10,000 European border and coast guards who will assist Member States on a number of issues, namely in times of migration crisis, in tackling cross-border crime as well as to improve and make more efficient the process of returns with new European fundamental right safeguards. Governments, including the Maltese government, have already prelimary approved the law earlier last month. 

Throughout the negotiations, MEP Roberta Metsola kept one guiding principle. “I wanted a law which is fair with those in need of protection, firm with those who do not, and harsh with those who seek to exploit the most vulnerable. We can only address security and the challenges of migration if we keep this principle in mind,” Metsola said. 

Concluding her work as a Rapporteur of this new law, MEP Metsola said, “Since I was elected as a representative of the Maltese and the Gozitan people in the European Parliament, I kept close contact with the citizens, meeting them every week. And with every individual I met - be they parents, students, pensioners, or entrepreneurs - security was always a huge concern, and I had to do something about it. This law is my, the EPP Group’s and the European Parliament’s reply to such concern.”

This law will transform the way the EU’s agency’s deal with migration phenomena including ensuring 10,000 new border guards and staff; boosting the fight against crime; protecting fundamental rights and aiding the efficient, safe return of those who are not eligible for protection. 

“This is a proud moment for me coming from Malta and Gozo - but it is a proud moment for Europe. Citizens asked and we delivered - in record time,” concluded Metsola.