Dimitris Avramopoulos

The European Union launched a joint border guard force on Thursday as it tries to prevent any repeat of an uncontrolled influx of migrants and refugees last year that has opened up gaping rifts between member states.

Less than a year since it was proposed, the new border agency of the EU was declared operational by the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, at a ceremony on Thursday that brought together EU and national leaders at the Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Turkey.

The European Union launched its common border guard at the Turkish-Bulgarian border on Oct. 6, hoping it will help keep people away from a bloc that is still struggling with political aftershocks from an uncontrolled influx of refugees and migrants last year. 

As of Thursday Bulgaria starts to play an increasingly important role in protecting its own borders and thouse of Europe, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos has said.

Avramopoulos has attended the launch the European Border and Coast Guard at the Bulgarian border with Turkey, at the crossing point of Kapitan Andreevo.

The new border and coast guard agreed by the European Union will be launched on October 06, Thursday.

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos is set to arrive for the official start which will be announced in Bulgaria.

The new task force is aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into Europe.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said the agreements on the allocation of EUR 108 M to Bulgaria for border protection will be finalized this week.

In a letter quoted by the government's press service, Juncker tells Prime Minister Boyko Borisov that payment, but also the delivery of vehicles needed by border police, are expected to be made "without delay".

European officials are calling on Athens to take action by the end of this year ahead of the review and reactivation of the Dublin Regulation, which would lead to EU member-states returning migrants to Greece.

The migrant crisis in Europe is not over, but the EU is "much better prepared" for a possible new migrant wave, says Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Avramopoulos also said it was of key importance for the EU-Turkey agreement on stopping the uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants to work, and stressed that progress had been made in this, Beta agency reported.

European Council President Donald Tusk has said Europe needs to work out ways to achieve a more effective control on its external borders.

"We have to guarantee in practice and politically that the Western Balkans route for illegal migrants is closed forever," Austrian daily Die Presse quotes Tusk as saying.

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be among the Balkan and European Union leaders that gather in the Austrian capital on Saturday for a mini-summit on the issue of migration along the “Balkan corridor.”
Greece has a clear agenda that was presented during the United Nations meetings on migration in New York and would open on a European level on Saturday.