Finland interested in post of General Director at European Border Guard Agency

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Finland is pursuing the post of the General Director at the new European guard agency that is to be established early next year. Finland's unofficial candidate for the post is Col. Ilkka Laitinen, 41, of the Finnish Frontier Guard. He is currently in charge of risk assessment related to European border control, which is located at the headquarters of the Frontier Guard in Helsinki.
     
Laitinen has also been working as a border control expert at the permanent representation of Finland to the European Union in Brussels. He has participated in numerous working groups and committees related to the Schengen Convention.
      A proposal for a directive on the creation of an Agency for Management of EU External Border Cooperation was adopted at the EU summit last November. The actual regulation of the new agency is to be approved in a meeting with EU interior ministers in Luxemburg at the end of this week.
      The Finnish Ministry of the Interior calculated on Friday that if the ruling is now adopted, the vacancies for the top posts will be opened in the course of the summer and the new General Director could be elected at the beginning of this autumn.
     
The location of the new Agency is likely to be decided on at the EU summit in June. Five of the new EU countries have put in bids to host the body: Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia and Malta. Poland is believed to be the strongest candidate to win the bid.
      The new European Border Guard Agency is due to become operational on January 1, 2005. The office will coordinate operational cooperation between member states, but each country will be responsible for its national border control, even in the future. The risk assessment centre that is currently located at the Frontier Guard in Helsinki will be relocated to be part of the new Border Guard Agency.


Links:
  Proposal: EU External Border Cooperation

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