European Border Authority: Frontex is being upgraded

The controversial EU border protection agency Frontex is being massively upgraded. In the future, it will not only help secure the EU's external borders, but will also act as a central deportation authority through a new coordination center. Frontex is also supposed to monitor the internet and social media to prevent “illegal migrants” from fleeing to Europe. The EU Commission proposed this in Brussels on Tuesday. Overall, the agency's standing reserve, which is largely made up of available civil servants from the member countries, is to be increased from 10,000 to 30,000 people.

As justification, Interior Commissioner Magnus Brunner and Digital Commissioner Henna Virkkunen referred to the incident in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, where thousands of migrants crossed the EU's external border with Morocco in July. They also referred to a changed geopolitical environment (meaning the war in Ukraine) and the new “eastern corridor” for refugees from Asia.

“Illegal migrants” come via this “corridor” from Bangladesh via the Gulf states and Egypt to Libya, said Brunner. Although the number of illegal border crossings has more than halved in the past two years, there has been a decline of 95 percent on the notorious Balkan route. But more needs to be done to ensure “freedom and security”.

To this end, border protection – actually a task of the member states – should be centralized within the EU. In the future, Frontex will operate with a “360-degree approach” – not just in the EU, but also outside it, and not just during crises, but in advance. The plans stipulate that a so-called border and return reserve with 17,000 border officers will be set up.

The EU Commission wants to set up a new type of “return coordination center” for deportations. This is intended to make Frontex an “operational arm of the EU for returns”. The agency is intended to coordinate and organize planned deportations by member states, but also operate outside of Europe. The planned “return hubs” pave the way for this: deportation camps outside the EU.

These “hubs” currently only exist on paper; Germany and other EU countries have not yet been able to find a suitable location. Nevertheless, people in Brussels are already thinking ahead: Frontex could in future transport unwanted asylum seekers to “returns hubs” in Africa, for example. From there, the border guards could even transport the migrants back to their home countries.

Even a preventative “deportation” (the English word for repatriation) is being considered. However, some “migration diplomacy” is still necessary for this, said Brunner. Ultimately, the countries of origin would have to agree to accept “their” migrants. However, the Austrian Commissioner was optimistic that this would succeed - after all, the EU has some leverage.

Virkkunen also wants to go on the offensive. She wants to equip Frontex with a new operations center to monitor the internet and social media and make the agency a “trusted flagger” for disinformation. In the future, border guards would be able to recognize fake news about supposedly open borders like in Ceuta and intervene at an early stage using “modern digital tools”.

In addition, the EU Commission also presented a regulation on the digitalization of return, readmission and reintegration. According to the EU Commission, it is about creating “a uniform digital interface for the entire return process”. This is intended to enable complete digital control: Greetings from Big Brother!

The proposals also provide for a massive increase in funding for Frontex. They would be doubled from the current almost 6 billion euros (2021 to 2027) to 11.8 billion for the years 2028 to 2034. The member states and the European Parliament still have to agree to the reform, which would massively expand Frontex's mandate. The Left, the Greens and the Social Democrats have announced resistance.