L 144[22 Official Journal of the European Union 6.6.2007 DECISION No 574/2007/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 May 2007 establishing the External Borders Fund for the period 2007 to 2013 as part of the General programme ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’ THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 62(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Having regard to the Opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (°), Whereas: o) While each Member State contributes to a high and uniform level of control on persons and surveillance of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union within the framework of common rules, some Member States face a heavier burden than others. The difference in the burden is explained by the differing situations prevailing in Member States as regards the geography of their external borders, the number of authorised and operative border crossing points, the level of migratory pressure, both legal and illegal, the risks and threats encountered and finally the workload of the national services regarding the examination of visas applications and the issuing of visas. Burden-sharing between Member States and the European Union in the management of external borders is one of the five components of the common policy for the manage- ment of the external borders, as proposed by the Commission in its Communication of 7 May 2002 ‘Towards integrated management of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union’ and endorsed by the Council in its ‘Plan for the management of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union’ of 14 June 2002. While Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 of 26 Octo- ber 2004 establishing a European Agency for the Manage- ment of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (¥ constitutes an important step towards the progressive development of the operational dimension of the European common-inte- grated-border management system, the implementation of effective and common standards for control and surveil- lance of the external borders calls for a Community ) OJ C 88, 11.4.2006, p. 15. ) OJ C 115, 16.5.2006, p. 47. ) Opinion of the European Parliament of 14 December 2006 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 7 May 2007. OJ L 349, 25.11.2004, p. 1. financial solidarity mechanism in order to support the Member States who bear, for the benefit of the Community, a lasting and heavy financial burden. The common corpus of legislation, as defined, in particular, by Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (°), provides for border checks to help combat illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings and to prevent any threat to the Member States’ internal security while, at the same time, providing for border checks to be carried out in such a way as to fully respect human dignity. The External Borders Fund (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Fund’) should express solidarity through financial assistance to those Member States that apply the Schengen provisions on external borders. Such financial assistance should be structured in such a way as to form a bridge with past financial contributions from the European Union to Member States which at the time of entry into force of this Decision do not yet apply all provisions of the Schengen acquis, without, however, constituting a mere continuation of the actions funded previously from other sources covered by the general budget of the European Union. In such cases, the Fund should assist those Member States preparing for full participation as soon as possible, in accordance with the Hague Programme of 4 and 5 November 2004. Moreover, the Fund should take into account specific situations, such as the transit by land of third-country nationals who must necessarily cross the territory of one or more Member States in order to travel between two parts of their own country which are not geographically contiguous, not only in the own interests of the Member State(s) concerned but also of all Member States which have abolished checks at their internal borders. In such cases, the actions to be financed should be exhaustively defined and the allocation of resources should be determined on the basis of a factual assessment of the needs in relation to those actions. In order to ensure uniform and high-quality external border control and flexible cross-border traffic, the Fund should contribute to the development of a European common- integrated-border management system which includes all the measures relating to policy, legislation, systematic cooperation, the distribution of the burden, personnel, () OJ L 105, 13.4.2006, p. 1.