The Commission is proposing to establish a European Border and Coast Guard and also to introduce systematic checks against relevant databases for all people entering and exiting the Schengen area.

During this workshop, day-to-day making and unmaking of borders will be investigated from the perspective of history, policy making, surveillance and control, contestation and human agency.

Justice and Home Affairs Ministers met in Brussels to discuss how to strengthen the following measures, inter alia: EU Passenger Name Record Directive, controls of external borders, information sharing and law enforcement cooperation.

The European Commission collects views and opinions, as well as ideas and knowledge, to elaborate a revised Smart Borders Package.

Today, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the "Smart Borders Package", one of the priorities included in the European Agenda on Migration. All citizens (EU nationals and non-EU nationals) and organisations are invited to contribute.

A 10 point action plan of the immediate actions has been presented by Commissioner Avramopoulos and received the full backing of Foreign and Interior Ministers.

On Sunday, 15 March the project on Smart Borders Pilot reached the next milestone - the execution phase – in Lisbon Airport, Portugal.

On 20 January, the Belgian Association for foreigners’ rights organizes a training on the topic “What protection for seriously ill persons following M’Bodj and Abdida case-law?”.

The last update of reference amounts for the crossing of the external borders has been published in the EU Official Journal on 13 December 2014. Belgium’s requirements are outlined.

On 11 November 2014, the European Commission has released its 6th bi-annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area covering the period from 1 May to 31 October 2014.

On 4 September 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a case-law concerning the interpretation of the Regulations establishing the Schengen Borders Code (2006) and the Visa Code (2009)

2013 statistics on enforcement of immigration legislation have been released by Eurostat in September 2014.

The Commission presented two proposals today to greatly facilitate the procedures for short-stay visitors. Important changes in the visa rules aim to stimulate the European economy and facilitate the lives of travellers towards the EU.