THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
Border management will undergo a profound transformation
photo: Frontex
Frontex’s role in safeguarding European security by Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Warsaw
O
ver the last five years Frontex has become one of the most dynamic EU agencies. The scale and speed of Frontex growth has no precedent. When the agency started to operate in 2005, its budget was of just €6m with about 30 staff members. This year, the budget is estimated at €543m with 1,350 employees. Such an evolution was marked by two successive amendments of its founding regulation.
The “Europeanisation” of border management In 2016, the agency was given more powers and was transformed into the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, dealing not only with border control, but also with border management, which entails greater responsibility for combating cross-border crime. Therewith Frontex became a structural and strategic partner with a larger presence in the Member States, making a significant step in furthering the “Europeanisation” of border management. Among the noticeable changes, the agency has started conducting vulnerability assessments of the ability of each EU Member State to face challenges at their external borders. In emergency situations, Frontex can quickly deploy border and coast guard officers from the rapid reaction pool of at least 1,500 officers. Frontex has put in place a network of liaison officers in the individual countries. Finally, the agency received a mandate to conduct operations on the territory of non-EU countries and a greater role in returns. The 2019 Regulation paved the way for the creation of the first European uniformed service. By 2027, Frontex will count on
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10,000 border and coast guards to support member states and Schengen associated countries in border control and migration management. Among them will be 3,000 officers employed by Frontex and 7,000 officers seconded by the national authorities for short or long-term deployments.
European Border and Coast Guard standing corps The standing corps, the operational arm of Frontex, for the first time includes officers who are working directly for the agency and wear dark blue European uniforms. They represent the whole European Union, not individual member states. This European formation is fundamentally changing Frontex and soon it will have more staff working in the field than in the headquarters. The number of new staff members that Frontex must employ in a span of just a few years is unprecedented. Despite all the challenges, by the end of this year, the agency will reach its ambitious goal of hiring 1,000 standing corps officers. It is important to make sure and we take care of it, that the officers, who represent all of Europe, are properly trained and ready, both in terms of operational knowledge and from the fundamental rights perspective, before they are deployed. So far, Frontex has recruited more than 600 officers of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps. Half of them already work at the external borders of the European Union to assist the national authorities. The rest are undergoing an obligatory six-month training. The deployed officers support the member states in border checks, screening and fingerprinting activities, conducting voluntary interviews to collect information about smuggling networks and detection of fraudulent documents or other type of organised crime. In the coming months, travellers will be seeing more and more of them at the borders.
