Germans to Lead EU Border Force

The Germans were seen as the best prepared for the task after years of patrolling their long border areas to the east.

Further details on the plan to beef up the EU’s territorial limits were revealed after a meeting between the German and Italian interior ministers in Sardinia.

Responsibility for dealing with sea borders has been taken up jointly by the Spanish and Greek authorities, while the Italians will cover airport controls.

Dividing the tasks between member states is a response to the collective challenge of dealing with illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.

The EU agency also has plans to use fingerprints and retinal scans to identify immigrants. It hopes that this will help overcome the problem of fake passports and IDs.