addition to the annual report on the smuggling of illicit goods referred to above, the
Commission will develop EU level customs assessments to address common risks. Pooling
information at EU-level should be used to reinforce border security. In order to strengthen
customs security to the required level at external borders, the Commission will work in 2011
on options to improve EU level capabilities for risk analysis and targeting and come
forward with proposals as appropriate.
Action 4: Improve interagency cooperation at national level
Member States should by the end of 2011 start developing common risk analyses. This
should involve all relevant authorities with a security role, including police, border guards and
customs authorities who identify hot spots and multiple and cross-cutting threats at external
borders, for example repeated smuggling of people and drugs from the same region at the
same border crossing points. These analyses should complement the yearly report by the
Commission on cross-border crimes with joint contributions from Frontex and Europol. By
the end of 2010 the Commission will finalise a study to identify best practices on cooperation
between border guards and customs administrations working at EU external borders and
consider the best way to disseminate them. In 2012, the Commission will make suggestions
on how to improve coordination of border checks carried out by different national
authorities (police, border guards, and customs). Further to that, by 2014 the Commission will
develop, together with Frontex, Europol and the European Asylum Support Office, minimum
standards and best practices for interagency cooperation. These shall particularly be applied to
joint risk analysis, joint investigations, joint operations and exchanging intelligence.
OBJECTIVE 5:
Increase Europe's resilience to crises and disasters
The EU is exposed to an array of potential crises and disasters, such as those associated with
climate change and those caused by terrorist and cyber attacks on critical infrastructure,
hostile or accidental releases of disease agents and pathogens, sudden flu outbreaks and
failures in infrastructure. These cross-sectoral threats call for improvements to long-standing
crisis and disaster management practices in terms of efficiency and coherence. They require
both solidarity in response, and responsibility in prevention and preparedness with an
emphasis on better risk assessment and risk management at EU level of all potential hazards.
Action 1: Make full use of the solidarity clause
The solidarity clause in the Lisbon Treaty32 introduces a legal obligation on the EU and its
Member States to assist each other when a Member State is the object of a terrorist attack or a
natural or man-made disaster. Through the implementation of this clause the EU aims to be
better organised and more efficient in managing crises, in terms of both prevention and
response. On the basis of a cross cutting proposal by the Commission and the High
Representative – to be presented in 2011 – the EU's collective task will be to put the
solidarity clause into practice.
32
EN
Article 222 TFEU.
13
EN