The first stage of the Centurion pilot project has completed, and on Tuesday in Sighetu Marmatiei a plenary meeting to evaluate the project was held, and the continuation of its implementation in new operational areas on Romania’s borders was considered.

“The purpose of the meeting in the operational area was the completion of the first stage of the implementation of the Centurion pilot project at the border between Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, and also preparations for the expansion of the geographical test section of the pilot project at the border between Romania and Serbia,” the Romanian Border Police reports.

The event took place in the presence of Lars Gerdes – the deputy executive director for returns and operations of the European Border Police and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) and General Inspector of the Romanian Border Police Victor-Stefan Ivascu.

“The pilot project carried out on the northern and eastern borders of Romania, launched on June 14, is a unique project by the vision it puts into practice and the special efforts it has joined together. Its preparation involved the contribution of officials from the Frontex Agency, but also from Romanian Border Police experts, especially those who have a long experience of planning and operational coordination of border surveillance and control missions. The success of the first phase of the project is an important premise in the Romanian Border Police accepting the extension of the implementation period and the introduction of new operational areas at the Romanian borders,” said Ivascu.

Frontex and Romanian Border Police experts presented the project concepts, the implementation method, the execution phases, the evaluation and future prospects.

The purpose of the pilot project is to test the planning and implementation of the new operational models on the Frontex chain of command for the standing corps, including a new chain of command, administrative management and hierarchical steps, and two new options for the operational concepts for standing corps.

The project was designed to increase the operational performance of responses at the external borders of the European Union by creating a decentralised command system for the management of the standing corps personnel as part of joint operations carried out under the auspices of Frontex.