Legal Affairs Committee reopens independent border guard issue
Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee said the situation on Estonian borders is unsatisfactory and it will debate whether restoring an independent border guard force will improve the situation. The police and border guard institutions were merged on January 1, 2010.
The committee will also take into consideration a public appeal launched by former border guard head Vice Admiral Tarmo Kõuts, who was at the committee's meeting on Monday.
Kõuts said restoring an independently led border guard force would not take much time. “My suggestion is to merge the capabilities of the migration department and the border guard to implement so-called pre-positioning in the territory of neighbors, in a similar way the EU must act in the Mediterranean,” he said.
Kõuts said the Eston Kohver case shows the border situation is a security threat and the border guard should be militarized.
Heljo Pikhof, the head of the committee, said the situation is unsatisfactory and the committee will debate on possible steps after listening to police, border guard and interior ministry officials.
Editor: J.M. Laats