Frontex and the European borders

Founded in 2004, Frontex is the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and it is the organization that, on behalf of the EU, manages, enforces, and develops border security for the entire Schengen Area

Frontex is involved in several operations and projects all concerning border security and it also provides, since 2019, EU’s first uniformed standing corps.

One of the main missions in Frontex’s mandate is to assist EU national authorities with border control and migration management through the implementation of the EES system and, more recently, the Agency has also been put in charge of building the ETIAS Central Unit.

More information Frontex and on its operations to foster EU border security are available in the article below.

How does Frontex operate?

With headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, Frontex main goal is to improve the integration of border control management for the external borders of the European Union and Schengen Area; such integration aims directly at making Europe a safer place to both residents and visitors.

In a press release, former Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri declared, “Our operational aim is to have well-functioning external borders ensuring trust in our European Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice”.

Since 2019 in particular, Frontex became more involved in the fight against criminality and terrorism by standing as an intermediary between European national border and coast guard authorities with the aim of enhancing cooperation and exchange of intelligence between EU countries.

Frontex operations concern several detailed activities of border management operations among which are:

  • Carry out analysis of migratory patterns and cross-border fraudulent or criminal activities
  • Carry out vulnerability assessments of border control of Schengen member countries
  • Contrast terrorism, smuggling, human trafficking and human rights violations by enhancing cooperation and data sharing between EU national authorities
  • Manage the ETIAS Central Unit (ECU)
  • To coordinate joint operationsinvolving one or more Schengen member states
  • Perform and/or coordinate search and rescueoperations at sea
  • Create and manage database on non-EU travel and migration information that may affect Europe

 

Frontex standing corps

As a part of 2019’s reforms that have strengthened the Agency, Frontex begun enrolling officers for its standing corps that became European Union’s first uniformed service. Frontex corps are deployed to the different member states to assist and work under the jurisdiction of the national border control authorities.

Frontex corps may perform, among others, the following duties:

  • Assist with border controls and with registration and fingerprinting of incoming visitor
  • Investigate and respond to illegal activities at the border, such as drugs or weapons contraband
  • Arrange and support the repatriation procedures of persons that are staying in Europe illegally or without a permission

 

As of 2022 Frontex employs over 1,900 staff members, including 900 standing corps officers.

These numbers are destined to grow quickly in the next few years since, by 2027, the Agency will count 10,000 people between staff members and uniformed border guards.

This expansion is possible thanks to the massive and growing investments the European Union is putting into the border security macro-operations that led Frontex budget to grow from 6 to over 800 million euros from 2004 to 2023.

The increasing budget reflects the expanded roles and responsibilities of the border agency with particular concern to the upcoming launch of EES and ETIAS systems.

 

Frontex role in EES and ETIAS

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency is responsible for setting up and running the Central Unit of the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS).

To be launched in 2025, ETIAS will create a security pre-screening system for visa-waiver travelers to go through before they reach the EU.

ETIAS Central Unit will work on many important tasks that include:

  • Investigate red-flagged Visa Waiver applications to verify a possible match occurred in one of the security databases
  • Sharing information on potential security threats with the ETIAS National Units
  • Coordinate operational protocols with ETIAS National Units
  • Carry out periodic reviews on the Visa-Waiver applications processing, with particular concern to privacy and data protection
  • Making sure all the data collected through ETIAS applications and cross-database controls is stored correctly
  • Sponsoring informational campaign to brief the public about ETIAS
  • Offer support to both visitors and carriers to help them operate correctly during the transition to ETIAS

 

Frontex officers and staff members will also support EU national border control authorities in the transition and implementation towards EES (Entry/Exit Systems) that will register and track the status of third country citizens that enter the Union while not being resident in any of the Member Countries.