Today the launch event of the Agency took place at the Bulgarian external border with Turkey, in presence of inter alia Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, Bulgarian Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, EU Interior Ministers and other senior officials.

Building on the foundations of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency will closely monitor the EU's external borders and work together with Member States to quickly identify and address any potential security threats to the EU's external borders. Under the new mandate, the Agency's role and activities have been significantly expanded.

The European Border and Coast Guard should help to meet Europe's commitment to get back to the normal functioning of the Schengen area and the lifting of temporary internal border controls by the end of the year.

Over the next months, the new Agency will be fully rolled out:

• 06.10.2016: new Agency is legally operational
• 07.12.2016: rapid reaction pool/equipment pool become operational
• 12.2016: 50: new recruitments in the Agency
• 07.01.2017: return pools become operational
• 01-03.2017: first vulnerability assessments

Additional information:

• Read more on the launch event in the press release from 6 October 2016
• View the video on the launch event
• Read more on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in the Q&A
• View the video on the new Agency