The seat of the EU's first agency in Malta – the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) – will be inaugurated next month by EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi during a ceremony to be held in Castille.
Details of the on June 19 inauguration were given this afternoon in Brussels by Malta's Permanent Representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana, following the signing of the 'Seat agreement' between Malta and EASO which specifies the conditions related to the premises of the new agency and its staff.
EASO will be providing its services from a new building in the grand harbour adjacent to the offices of the maritime directorate of Transport Malta.
The agency recently issued an international call to recruit its first officials.
It is estimated that a total of 60 officers will be recruited in the first three years of operations.
The aim of the EASO is to strengthen practical cooperation among member states on asylum and to improve the implementation of the Common European Asylum System in the EU.