The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex (from French: ''Frontières extérieures'' for "external borders"), is an

agency of the European Union The agencies of the European Union (formally: ''Agencies, decentralised independent bodies, corporate bodies and joint undertakings of the European Union and the Euratom'') are bodies of the European Union and the Euratom established as juridica ...

headquartered in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland, exercising in coordination with the border and coast guards of member states the

border control Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

of the European

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

, a task within the

area of freedom, security and justice The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) is a collection of justice as well as migration & home affairs policies designed to ensure security, rights and free movement within the European Union (EU). Fields covered include the harmonisati ...

domain. 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 The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

of 2015–2016, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

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 The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the E ...

roundly supported the proposal, and after a vote by the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, the European Border and Coast Guard was officially launched on 6 October 2016 at the Bulgarian external border with Turkey. Frontex's budget has increased from the €143 million for 2015 to €543 million for 2021 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

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 (bigger equipment such as patrol vessels, air crafts, etc.) 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 In aviation, pushback is an airport procedure during which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from its parking position, usually at an airport gate by external power. Pushbacks are carried out by special, low-profile vehicles called ''pushback ...

of almost 40,000 asylum seekers, resulting in 2,000 deaths, in violation of EU and

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. Frontex denies taking part in pushbacks; the claims are currently under investigation by EU anti-fraud agency

OLAF Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...

. 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 The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU, in practice the

including the Schengen Associated Countries as well as those EU Member States which have not yet joined the Schengen Area but are bound to do so) 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 The corps may also work in non-EU countries that have signed a 'status agreement' with the European Commission, such as Albania, Montenegro or Serbia.

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 , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

's earth observation system

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...

provides the new Agency with almost real time satellite surveillance capabilities alongside the current

Eurosur The European Border Surveillance System (commonly abbreviated Eurosur) is a surveillance system of the European Union (EU) that uses drones, reconnaissance aircraft, offshore sensors and satellite remote sensing, to track illegal immigration into ...

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 (RAU) and the Frontex Risk Analysis Network (FRAN), 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

= The Agency has a new mandate to send liaison officers and launch joint operations with neighbouring third countries, including operating on their territory.

=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 The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

History

Pre-2005

The EU's precursors, the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

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 The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

in 1985, the establishment of the

in 1993 with the introduction of the

Common Foreign and Security Policy The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, whic ...

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

, as well as the

Amsterdam Treaty The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...

'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 (EC) 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

s 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. The institution was centrally and hierarchically organised with a management board, consisting of one person of each member state as well as two members of the commission. The member states representatives are operational heads of national security services concerned with border guard management. Frontex also has representatives from and works closely with Europol and

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

. The management board is the leading component of the agency, controlling the personal, financial, and organisational structure, as well as initiating operative tasks in annual work programmes. Additionally, the Board appoints the executive director. The first director was Ilkka Laitinen. 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 (RABIT) 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 The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

in May 2007 and armed border force officers were deployed to the Greece–Turkey border in October 2010.

2016–present

The Commission was prompted to take swift action due to the immigration crisis of 2015, which brought to the forefront the need to improve the security of the external borders of the union. This crisis has also demonstrated that Frontex, which had a limited mandate in supporting the Member States to secure their external borders, had insufficient staff and equipment, and lacked the authority to conduct border management operations and search-and-rescue efforts. The new Agency was proposed by the

on 15 December 2015 to strengthen Frontex, widely seen as being ineffective in the wake of the

. Support for the proposal has come from France and Germany, with Poland and Hungary expressing opposition to the plan, concerned by the perceived loss of sovereignty. Kos-Kos_city_Harbour-FRONTEX_policecar-04ASD

Kos-Kos_city_Harbour-FRONTEX_policecar-04ASD

The limitations of the former EU border agency, Frontex, hindered its ability to effectively address and remedy the situation created by the refugee crisis: it relied on the voluntary contributions by Member States as regards resources, it did not have its own operational staff and it did not have an explicit mandate to conduct search and rescue operations. The enhanced Agency will be strengthened and reinforced to address all these issues. The legal grounds for the proposal are article 77, paragraph 2(b) and (d), and article 79, paragraph 2 (c), of the

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the Treaties of the European Union, constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously ...

. Article 77 grants competence to the EU to adopt legislation on a "gradual introduction of an integrated management system for external borders," and article 79 authorizes the EU to enact legislation concerning the repatriation of third-country nationals residing illegally within the EU. On 18 December 2015, the

roundly supported the proposal, which was then be subjected to the

ordinary legislative procedure The European Union adopts legislation through a variety of legislative procedures. The procedure used for a given legislative proposal depends on the policy area in question. Most legislation needs to be proposed by the European Commission and ...

. The Border and Coast Guard was officially launched on 6 October 2016 at the Bulgarian external border with Turkey. On 4 December 2019, a regulation amending the mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Regulation 2019/1896
entered into force. The revised regulation gave the Agency a broader mandate by extending its powers in the following five areas: standing corps,

EUROSUR The European Border Surveillance System (commonly abbreviated Eurosur) is a surveillance system of the European Union (EU) that uses drones, reconnaissance aircraft, offshore sensors and satellite remote sensing, to track illegal immigration into ...

, return operations, antenna offices, and extended cooperation with the third countries. Ever since Frontex was transformed into the Agency in 2016, the broader mandate has been deemed controversial, and the issue of whether the EU or the member state were competent in border management has also been a matter of debate. While announcing the future of Frontex during his State of the Union speech in 2015, the then European Commission President

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Finance Minister ...

called for "a more efficient" border management and stated that "there is not enough Europe in this Union and there is not enough union in this Union." Although the member states still retain the primary responsibility for border management, the Agency now has a broader mandate to initiate its own operations. Hence, with the growing executive powers of the Agency, the EU has a stronger role in the issue of border management. However, concerns regarding

human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

are still being voiced, in particular, due to the broader executive powers of the Agency under the revised regulation. The present agency is not a new body. It does not replace Frontex and it retains the same legal personality. What the Commission draft Regulation aims to do is to strengthen the mandate of the EU border agency, to increase its competences and to better equip it to carry out its operational activities. The new tasks and responsibilities of the Agency need to be reflected by its new name. FRONTEX (32814206643)

It coordinates its work alongside the

European Fisheries Control Agency The European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that co-ordinates the national operational activities in the area of fisheries, and assists the member states in their application of the Common Fisheries Polic ...

and

European Maritime Safety Agency The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is a European Union agency charged with reducing the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea by helping to enforce the pertinent EU legislation. It is ...

with regard to coastguard functions. The permanent staff of the Agency was more than doubled between 2015 and 2020.

Agency-led operations

2006 ''Poseidon''

"Joint Operation Poseidon" began on 2006, after Greece asked for surveillance by Frontex of the country's sea and land borders between the EU-member Greece and Turkey. The Joint Operation is divided into two branches, the Poseidon Sea Operation which oversees the sea borders of the EU with Turkey in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and Aegean seas, and the Poseidon Land Operation which oversees the southeastern land border of the EU with Turkey on the

Evros river Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Poseidon Rapid Intervention.

2011 ''Hermes''

"Joint Operation Hermes" began on 20 February 2011, after Italy asked for Frontex surveillance of the

between Italy and North Africa, the southern border of the EU being in the Sea. The

Libyan no-fly zone Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

came into effect subsequently, and combat operations started on 20 March 2011. The Netherlands has a Coast Guard

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

aircraft with air force crew and Portugal, an air force C-295MPA, stationed at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Pantelleria Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunis ...

. The number of observed shiploads of people intending to illegally enter into the EU through this sector increased from 1,124 in the first quarter of 2013 to 5,311 in the second quarter of 2013. African and other would-be illegal immigrants continue to set sail for Italian shores aboard unseaworthy boats and ships. Several of these attempts have ended with capsized boats and hundreds of people drowning in the sea, though the

Italian navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

has saved thousands of lives in its

Operation Mare Nostrum Operation Mare Nostrum was a year-long naval and air operation commenced by the Italian government on 18 October 2013, which brought at least 150,000 migrants to Europe, mainly from Africa and the Middle East. The operation ended on 31 October 201 ...

2014 ''Triton''

Operation Triton is a border security operation conducted by Frontex, the

's border security agency. The operation, under Italian control, began on 1 November 2014 and involves voluntary contributions from 15 other European nations (both

EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and non-members). Current voluntary contributors to Operation Triton are Croatia, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Malta and the United Kingdom. The operation was undertaken after Italy ended

, which had become too costly for a single country to fund; it was costing the Italian government €9 million per month for an operation that lasted 12 months. The Italian government had requested additional funds from the other EU member states but they did not offer the requested support. "Joint Operation Triton" is under Italian control and focuses on border security within 30 nautical miles of the Italian shore. It began on 1 November 2014 and involves 15 other European nations volunteering services, both

and non-members. voluntary contributors are Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Malta and the United Kingdom. The operation's assets consist of two

surveillance aircraft A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, reconnaissance, observa ...

, three ships and seven teams of staff who gather intelligence and conduct screening and process identification. In 2014, its budget was estimated at €2.9 million per month. After the

April 2015 Libya migrant shipwrecks This article is a list of migrant vessel incidents on the Mediterranean Sea. The incidents have been referred to as part of the European migrant crisis. Prior to 2015 2015 2015 summary The number of reported deaths of migrants cros ...

, in which about 800 refugees died, EU ministers proposed on 20 April 2015, to double the size of Operation Triton and to widen its mandate to conduct

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations across the Mediterranean Sea. Fabrice Leggeri, the head of Frontex, dismissed turning Triton into a search and rescue operation, saying it would "support and fuel the business of traffickers". Instead he recommended to expand air surveillance of the Maltese waters "anticipate more disasters.

2015 ''Moria Hotspot''

On 12 December 2015 it was reported that a newly founded asylum seeker reception center in Moria, Lesbos, Greece was coordinated, controlled and monitored by Frontex. In this center, in prison-like conditions, the asylum seekers were reported to undergo swift detention about their status for the purposes of registration. Independent journalists were reported to have had limited access to the facilities. While the reception center is not in the position to grant refugee status, it was reported that some asylum seekers could be held in the reception camp indefinitely.

Controversies

Migrant hunting EU agency - Shut Down FRONTEX Warsaw 2008

In an NGO Statement on International Protection presented at the UNHCR Standing Committee in 2008 a broad coalition of non-governmental organisations have expressed their concern, that much of the rescue work by Frontex is in fact incidental to a deterrence campaign so broad and, at times, so undiscriminating, that directly and through third countries – intentionally or not – asylum-seekers are being blocked from claiming protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention. According to European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and

British Refugee Council The Refugee Council is a UK based organisation which works with refugees and asylum seekers. The organisation provides support and advice to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as support for other refugee and asylum seeker organisations. The R ...

in written evidence submitted to the UK House of Lords inquiry, Frontex fails to demonstrate adequate consideration of international and European asylum and human rights law including the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and EU law in respect of access to asylum and the prohibition of refoulement. In addition ECRE and British Refugee Council have expressed a worry with the lack of clarity regarding Frontex accountability for ensuring compliance with international and EC legal obligations by Member States involved in Frontex coordinated operations. This is compounded by the lack of transparency, and the absence of independent monitoring and democratic accountability of the Agency. Reports have surfaced of video footage of FRONTEX violating the law, by helping the

Greek coast guard The Hellenic Coast Guard ( el, Λιμενικό Σώμα-Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή, Limeniko Soma-Elliniki Aktofylaki, Port Corps-Hellenic Coast Guard) is the national coast guard of Greece. Like many other coast guards, it is a par ...

block and push back asylum-seekers and migrants who have reached Greek territorial waters instead of rescuing them, which is their obligation under EU laws and regulations. Despite a 2012

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

ruling that refugees should not be returned to Libya, due to risk of torture and violence, Frontex was criticised in April 2021 for supporting the

Libyan Coast Guard The Libyan Coast Guard is organizationally part of the Libyan Navy, although it operates as a proxy force of the European Union in order to prevent migrants from reaching the EU's borders. As of 2015, the Libyan Coast Guard has over 1,000 personne ...

to do so.

Alleged Turkish airspace violations

In September 2009, a Turkish military radar issued a warning to a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n helicopter patrolling in the eastern Aegean—part of the EU's Frontex programme to combat illegal immigration—to leave the area. The

Turkish General Staff , image = , image_size = 160px , caption = Emblem of the General Staff , dates = 3 May 1920 – present , country = , allegiance ...

reported that the Latvian Frontex aircraft had violated Turkish airspace west of

Didim Didim is a small town, popular seaside holiday resort, and district of Aydın Province on the Aegean coast of western Turkey, from the provincial capital city of Aydın. Didim is the site of the antique city of Didyma with its ruined Temple ...

.Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri - Turkish Armed Forces According to a

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

announcement, the incident occurred as the Frontex helicopter—identified as an Italian-made

Agusta A109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...

—was patrolling in Greek airspace near the small isle of Farmakonisi, which lies on a favourite route used by migrant smugglers ferrying migrants into Greece and the EU from the opposite Turkish coastline. Frontex officials stated that they simply ignored the Turkish warnings as they were not in Turkish airspace and continued their duties. Frontex later took photographs of the Turkish Coast Guard escorting

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...

towards Greek waters and the photos accompanied by written evidence were submitted to EU authorities. Another incident took place in October 2009 in the airspace above the eastern Aegean sea, off the island of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

. On 20 November 2009, the Turkish General Staff issued a press note alleging that an

Estonian Border Guard The Estonian Border Guard ( et, Eesti Piirivalve) was the national security agency responsible for the border security of Estonia. It was subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. The Border Guard also assisted with Search and Rescue missions ...

aircraft

Let Let or LET may refer to: Sports * Let serve, when the served object in certain racket sports hits the net and lands in the correct service court, such as; ** Let (badminton) ** Let (pickleball) ** Let (tennis) * Ladies European Tour, the ladi ...

L-410 The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of landing on short a ...

UVP taking off from

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

on a Frontex mission had violated Turkish airspace west of Söke.

20202021 OLAF Raid & EU Ombudsman Investigation

On 7 December 2020, the EU's anti-fraud watchdog, OLAF, raided the offices of Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri, as well as his head of Cabinet Thibauld de La Haye Jousselin as part of an investigation into allegations of staff harassment, misconduct and migrant pushbacks. According to an internal document seen by the Greek Newspaper Ekathimerini, Leggeri "actively resisted" the recruitment of the required 40 fundamental rights officers provided for in the regulation of the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency, answering frequent questions from agency staff in early 2020 that "it is not a priority." The story also accuses Leggeri of being in charge of a "comically incompetent" human resources department that formally offered jobs to large numbers of Standing Corps personnel and then withdrew them the next day. The Ekathimerini story also quotes an EU document that alleges Frontex's Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri "actively resisted" the recruitment of the required 40 fundamental rights officers required in the regulation of the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency, answering frequent questions from agency staff in early 2020 that "it is not a priority" and "repeatedly made it clear to staff" that "Frontex is not an expensive lifeguard service." Frontex operations staff were made to understand that "reporting pushbacks involving Frontex personnel is not a route to popularity or promotion" within the agency. The paper also reported that no provision had yet been made for the new border guard "Standing Corps" to carry firearms legally over EU borders. In January 2021, EU Commissioner

Ylva Johansson Ylva Julia Margareta Johansson (born 13 February 1964) is a Swedish politician who has been serving as European Commissioner for Home Affairs since 2019. She previously served in the government of Sweden as Minister for Schools from 1994 to 1998 ...

called for the EU ombudsman to open an inquiry. According to the UK's Financial Times, on 12 January 2021, the EU's "embattled border and coastguard agency", was ridiculed for tweeting a 77-second short film celebrating its new uniforms on the same day that the bloc's anti-fraud office, OLAF, confirmed it would investigate the agency.

Covering up migrant pushback in Greece

In 2020, ships of Frontex were complicit in so-called illegal "pushbacks" of migrants attempting to reach mainland Europe via Greek waters. In such pushbacks, which is illegal under international law, migrants already in European waters are sent back to areas outside the borders of the European Union. Frontex's involvement in these illegal practices follows from an analysis of open source sources, leaked documents, imagery and conversations with both migrants and Frontex staff conducted by a journalistic research collective involving

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised as bellngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 2014 ...

and

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

, among others.

2021 "Hiring Chaos" and the Frontex “Potemkin Corps”

In early 2021, reports emerged in the media of serious recruitment and HR issues at Frontex. At least one report spoke of a “comically incompetent” HR department at the agency. Reported problems included first-person accounts of offers for the Standing Corps being made and then withdrawn the following day; recruits being brought to Poland for training only to be told they had failed a medical test the previous month and then abandoned; inadequate provisions made for COVID protection during training; and nonexistent communication with new staff about key practical issues.Frontex’s growing pains: EU border force plagued by chaotic recruitment, COVID outbreaks and an investigation by anti-fraud watchdog
‘’Politico’. 21 January 2021. These issues, combined with the fact that the Standing Corps cannot be armed under current regulations because the agency's new 2019 mandate did not include the necessary legal basis under which it can acquire, register, store and transport firearms, have led some to refer to the Standing Corps internally as a “Potemkin Corps”, i.e. something for show only. In June 2021, former FRONTEX deputy director Gil Arias Fernández criticised the agency's recruitment process, stating that it had no safeguards in place to prevent infiltration by far-right extremists.

Misleading the EU Parliament and unregistered meetings with lobbyists

In February 2021, Frontex was accused of its staff meeting "with scores of unregistered lobbyists that represent the weapons, surveillance and biometrics industries". The investigation also indicated that Frontex misled the European Parliament. In 2018, the agency told MEPs in response to a question: “Frontex only met with registered lobbyists who are registered in the EU Transparency Register … no meetings were held in 2017.” But according to the documents obtained, Frontex “held at least four meetings with industry” that year, CEO wrote. “Of the 24 private bodies that participated in these meetings – mostly companies – over half (58 percent or 14 bodies) were not registered in the EU Transparency Register.” Overall, their research found that from 2017 to 2019, Frontex met with 138 private groups: 108 companies, 10 research centers or think tanks, 15 universities and one non-governmental organization. Human rights organizations were notably absent.

Violations of human rights

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

14, 2022, the

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (commonly known as Euro-Med Monitor and sometimes as Euro-Med HRM) is an independent, nonprofit organization for the protection of human rights. Its main objective is to raise awareness about human rights ...

released a report documenting the effects of

Commission Intrusive surveillance program for migrants and asylum seekers, that the EU Commission’s intrusive migrant surveillance program works dangerous and illegal to collect detailed information about migrants and asylum seekers, such as genetic and biometric data and DNA fingerprints, their religious beliefs and their sexual orientation. Moreover, the Euro-Med indicated that the program would criminalize innocent people, impede their right to seek asylum, facilitate the procedures for expulsion and return them to their countries, and consolidate the misperception linking

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

References

External links

Proposed regulationon EUR-Lex

European Commission fact sheet

United States Library of Congress description
{{Authority control Agencies of the European Union Border protection International law enforcement agencies International organisations or its agencies based in Warsaw European Border and Coast Guard