The heads of the negotiating teams initialled in January a status agreement that will allow teams from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to be deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once in force, the agreement will allow the Agency to carry out joint operations with and within Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the event of sudden migratory challenges.
The Commission has committed to further strengthening the European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s role in protecting the EU’s borders, including closer cooperation with the EU’s neighbours. Status agreements like the one initialled with Bosnia and Herzegovina will reinforce the Agency’s ability to act in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, helping to manage irregular migration better and further enhancing security at the EU’s external borders.
Closer cooperation between the Agency and Western Balkan partners is also a core element of the Commission’s strategy for ‘A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans’, which highlights the Western Balkans’ European future and calls for enhanced strategic and operational cooperation on migration and border management.
