Opposition leader Simon Busuttil today welcomed by the European Commission on setting up EU Border and Coast Guards to strengthen the protection of the EU’s external borders.

Speaking during a summit of the European People’s Party (EPP) in Brussels, Dr Busuttil said that in order to preserve that benefits of freedom of movement in the Schengen countries, security at external borders needs to be strengthened because each country's external border was the external border of the entire zone.

“Securing Europe’s external borders is the best way to continue to benefit from the freedom of being part of the Schengen zone" Simon Busuttil said.

"The Commission’s proposals go in this direction and are therefore a good step forward and I hope that they can be adopted quickly,” he said.

"The challenge now is to see how to do this whilst fully respecting each country's sovereignty over its external borders. In Malta's case, being an island, this is our extensive maritime zone. But we already do this with our Customs Union whereby national customs officers follow a common EU code with respect to trade in goods. There is no reason why we should not apply common rules also with respect to people crossing our external borders. In that way, we strengthen the borders but at the same time also strengthen the trust between us that all countries are applying the same rules with respect to their borders,” Dr Busuttil added.

Dr Busuttil is due back in Malta from Brussels tonight.