Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly known as Frontex, is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. In coordination with the border and coast guards of member states, it exercises border control of the European Schengen Area, a task within the area of freedom, security and justice domain. Formally, the Agency's remit is to "support Member States on the ground in their efforts to protect the external borders"; it does not have authority to act otherwise unless "external border control" "is rendered ineffective to such an extent that it risks jeopardising the functioning of the Schengen area".
Frontex was established in 2004 as the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders and is primarily responsible for coordinating border control efforts. In response to the European migrant crisis of 2015–2016, the European Commission proposed on 15 December 2015 to extend Frontex's mandate and to transform it into a fully-fledged European Border and Coast Guard Agency. On 18 December 2015, the European Council roundly supported the proposal, and after a vote by the European Parliament, the European Border and Coast Guard was officially launched on 6 October 2016 at the Bulgarian external border with Turkey. In November 2019, the remit and resources of the agency were extended.
Frontex's budget has increased from the €143 million for 2015 to €1.12 billion for 2025, and the staff of the agency is planned to reach 10,000 by 2027.
Organisation
National authorities
The European Border and Coast Guard's national component comprises relevant authorities in each Schengen Area member state, which exercise the day-to-day management of their sections of the external borders of the Schengen Area. They are:Land borders
Coasts
Union agency
The European Union's agency, titled European Border and Coast Guard Agency, provides a reserve of European border guards and technical equipment. The agency may purchases its own flagged vehicles. The Member States where this equipment is registered are obliged to put it at the Agency's disposal whenever needed. This enables the Agency to rapidly deploy the necessary technical equipment in border operations. A rapid reserve pool of border guards and a technical equipment pool is at the disposal of the agency, intending to remove the shortages of staff and equipment for the Agency's operations.According to a 2021 Guardian investigation, EU member states with Frontex complicity in some cases have been responsible for pushback of almost 40,000 asylum seekers, resulting in 2,000 deaths, in violation of EU and international law. Frontex denies taking part in pushbacks; the claims are currently under investigation by EU anti-fraud agency OLAF.
According to the European Commission the European Border and Coast Guard "will bring together a European Border and Coast Guard Agency built from Frontex and the Member States’ authorities responsible for border management" with day-to-day management of external border regions remaining the responsibility of member states. It is intended that the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency will act in a supporting role for members in need of assistance, as well as to coordinate overall border management of Europe's external borders. Securing and patrolling of the external borders of the European Union is a shared responsibility of the Agency and the national authorities.
Standing Corps
Launched in 2021, the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps is the EU's first uniformed service. By 2027, the corps is planned to number 10 000 personnel.The corps is composed of agency and member states' officers, who support and work under the command of the national authorities of the country in they are deployed in.
The future officers who are recruited do not necessarily need prior law enforcement experience, and undergo a year of training organised by the agency.
Tasks performed by the standing corps:
- border checks and patrols
- identity and document checks
- registration of migrants
Tasks
Monitoring and risk analysis
A monitoring and risk analysis centre will be established, with the authorisation to carry out risk analysis and to monitor the flows towards and within the EU. The risk analysis includes cross-border crime and terrorism, process personal data of persons suspected to be involved in acts of terrorism and cooperate with other Union agencies and international organisations on the prevention of terrorism. A mandatory vulnerability assessments of the capacities of the Member States to face current or upcoming challenges at their external borders will be established.The Agency is able to launch joint operations, including the use of drones when necessary. The European Space Agency's Earth observation system Copernicus provides the new Agency with almost real time satellite surveillance capabilities alongside the current Eurosur border surveillance system.
Frontex regularly releases reports analyzing events related to border control, irregular border crossing and different forms of cross-border crime. The general task of assessing these risks has been laid out in Frontex founding regulation, according to which the agency shall "carry out risk analyses in order to provide the Community and the Member States with adequate information to allow for appropriate measures to be taken or to tackle identified threats and risks with a view to improving the integrated management of external borders". Frontex's key institution with respect to intelligence and risk assessment is its Risk Analysis Unit and the Frontex Risk Analysis Network, via which the Frontex staff is cooperating with security experts from the Member States.
The latest FRAN report as of 2013 stated that 24 805 illegal border-crossing were detected. In the Eastern Mediterranean area specifically at the land border between Greece and Turkey, illegal border-crossings were down by nearly 70% compared to the second quarter of 2012, but up in the Central Mediterranean route.
Working with and in third countries
On 23 February 2012, Frontex signed a working arrangement with Armenia. Representatives of Frontex met with Artur Baghdasaryan, former head of the Security Council of Armenia. Areas of mutual cooperation and promoting peace and security in the South Caucasus region was discussed.The Agency approved a mandate to send liaison officers and launch joint operations with neighbouring third countries, including operating on their territory. The Agency has developed a network of Frontex Liaison Officers in non-EU countries, including in countries of the Eastern Partnership, the Western Balkans, and West Africa.
The Agency cooperates with numerous countries beyond the EU. As of 2024, Frontex has concluded working arrangements with the authorities of 18 partners: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cape Verde, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States. The agency has also signed a working arrangement with the Commonwealth of Independent States Border Troop Commanders Council.
Repatriation of illegal immigrants
The Border and Coast Guard has a supportive capacity to repatriate immigrants residing illegally in the union and is responsible for the coordination of return operations. The decision about who should be returned is always taken by the judicial or administrative authorities of the Member States. The merits of return decisions remain the exclusive responsibility of the Member State, with the appeal against this return decision having to be taken through the respective Member State.Budget and staff
Equipment
In recent years Frontex has procured some equipment of its own. It also charters some airplanes used mainly for surveillance around the Mediterranean Sea.History
Pre-2005
The EU's precursors, the European Communities which were founded in the 1950s, had little mandate to facilitate coordination between member states' border and coast guard authorities. Milestones towards coordination on foreign, security, border and asylum policy matters include the signing of the Schengen Agreement in 1985, the establishment of the European Union in 1993 with the introduction of the Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar, as well as the Amsterdam Treaty's consolidation of Schengen rules within the EU framework in 1999.2005–2016
Frontex, then officially the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, was established by Council of Regulation 2007–2004. It began work on 3 October 2005 and was the first EU agency to be based in one of the new EU member states from 2004. Frontex' mission is to help European Union member states implement EU rules on external border controls and to coordinate cooperation between member states in external border management. While it remains the task of each member state to control its own borders, Frontex is vested to ensure that they all do so with the same high standard of efficiency. The agency's main tasks according to the Council Regulation are:- coordinate cooperation between member states in external border management.
- assisting member states in training of national border guards.
- carrying out risk analyses.
- following research relevant for the control and surveillance of external borders.
- helping member states requiring technical and operational assistance at external borders.
- providing member states with the necessary support in organising joint return operations.
According to its third amended Budget 2015, the agency had in that year 336 employees. Additionally, the agency could make use of 78 employees which had been seconded from the member states. The dependency of the organisation on staff secondments has been identified by external auditors as a risk, since valuable experience may be lost when such staff leave the organisation and return to their permanent jobs.
Special European Border Forces of rapidly deployable border guards, called Rapid Border Intervention Teams who are armed and patrol cross-country land borders, were created by EU interior ministers in April 2007 to assist in border control, particularly on Europe's southern coastlines. Frontex's European Patron Network began work in the Canary Islands in May 2007 and armed border force officers were deployed to the Greece–Turkey border in October 2010.