Planned overhaul of Frontex sparks backlash in Brussels

The European Commission wants to triple Frontex’s workforce and give it sweeping new powers to deport migrants beyond EU borders and monitor social media, prompting warnings over surveillance and fundamental rights.

The EU’s border and coastguard agency, Frontex, is set to gain unprecedented powers to deport irregular migrants, monitor social media and respond to mass arrivals at EU borders under a sweeping reform proposed by the European Commission.

The overhaul would significantly expand Frontex’s mandate, triple its workforce and give it a much greater role in deportations beyond EU territory.

Brussels says the changes are needed to tackle new migration challenges, including orchestrated border crossings such as the mass arrival of an estimated 80,000 people in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July.

But the proposals have already sparked controversy, with critics warning that the agency’s expanded powers and budget could lead to further fundamental rights violations and intrusive surveillance.

Here are the main elements of the reform, which must still be approved by EU member states and the European Parliament.

New focus on deportations

One of the most significant changes is a shift in Frontex’s focus from managing the EU’s external borders towards deporting irregular migrants.

The agency will become the “central EU actor on returns”, providing “support from A to Z”

While responsibility for returning irregular migrants to their countries of origin remains with EU countries, the agency will help by identifying the individuals to be returned, operating return flights and providing reintegration assistance through a new Return Coordination Centre.

Crucially, the agency will also be able to operate from one non-EU country to another, a major change that would allow Frontex officials to help deport migrants before they even reach Europe.

This means they will also take part in deportations from return hubs to countries of origin, as a recently approved law allows such hubs to be set up outside the EU.

Civil society organisations claim this system would be opaque and difficult to scrutinize.

“The Commission wants to turn Frontex into a deportation agency operating far beyond Europe’s borders, where abuses will be harder to expose”, Iftach Cohen, co-director of NGO Front-LEX, told Euronews.

Any cooperation with a third country will require a specific agreement with the country concerned, to be negotiated by the Commission and finally approved by the EU member states and Parliament.

“This is shameful and makes Frontex closer and closer to Donald Trump’s ICE,” Italian socialist MEP Cecilia Strada told Euronews, referring to the controversial US agency in charge of apprehending and deporting irregular migrants.

Frontex’s new tasks will be facilitated by a separate regulation to “digitalise” returns, which is set to simplify and speed up administrative procedures by sharing information among EU member states. It also sparks controversy, as organizations such as Statewatch warned of the risks of excessive data collection.

New powers to monitor social media

Frontex would also be tasked with monitoring social media to detect advertisements for people-smuggling and anticipate mass arrivals at EU borders.

An EU official acknowledged that the proposal was partly a response to July’s crisis in Ceuta, when an estimated 80,000 people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave in North Africa.

“There was lots of messaging [on social media] before what happened, lots of misinformation. If we have a sort of real-time ability to see these things happening upstream, then it’s possible then to envisage reactions”, the official said.

A new internal structure called the “Online Monitoring and Response Centre” will be set up, and Frontex will also be allowed to identify illegal content, flag it to social media platforms and trigger requests to competent authorities to have it removed.

“The digital dimension is not a technical annexe to the Frontex reform, it is one of its main enablers”, said Henna Virkkunen, Commission Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty and Security.

However, national authorities remain responsible for deciding the legality of content.

Frontex will apply for “trusted flagger” status, which must be approved by national authorities. If it is granted, Frontex’s flags would be assessed as a priority and, where warranted, removed.

Critics warn that the new powers could amount to intrusive online surveillance, threatening privacy and freedom of expression.

“Social media surveillance poses serious risks to people’s data,” French Green MEP Mélissa Camara told Euronews.

Even far-right MEPs, who traditionally favour stricter border controls and expanded powers for Frontex, have raised concerns.

“We will not accept the fight against traffickers on social media becoming a pretext for monitoring citizens’ opinions. We will make no concessions and we will not sign blank checks,” said Susanna Ceccardi of Italy’s League, signalling a potentially heated debate when the legislation reaches Parliament.

A rapid reaction force

The reform would also establish a Quick Reaction Force, another measure inspired by the Ceuta crisis.

The specialised unit could be deployed at short notice to an EU country’s external border in the event of an emergency, allowing Frontex to respond more rapidly to sudden surges in arrivals.

The decision to deploy it can be taken by Frontex’s Executive Director, but only following a request from the member state concerned.

The reform leaves unchanged the subordination of Frontex officials to national authorities.

Tripling of staff

The expanded mandate would come with a substantial increase in staff, funding and equipment.

The Commission wants to triple Frontex’s workforce to 30,000 officers by 2041, up from the current 10,000.

The agency’s own standing corps, in charge of patrolling the borders, will double from 3,000 to 6,000 officers, plus 7,000 officers seconded from EU states’ national police forces.

The total is completed by a new “European border and return reserve” of 17,000 officers who will remain in their home countries and be deployed only if needed.

“[Officers] in the reserve would be trained up to Frontex’s standards and made available for quick deployment. But they are still part of the national resources and will not be paid out of the Frontex budget,” an EU official said.

Frontex is allocated almost €6 billion in the current EU budget, and the Commission has proposed doubling its funding in the 2028-2034 cycle.

With the new mandate, the agency will be able to acquire, lease and co-own equipment such as drones for surveillance and AI-enabled tools, acting as a central purchasing body in joint procurement with member states. At present, it must rely on equipment provided by national forces.

The increase in personnel and resources will not be matched by a proportional increase in the number of Fundamental Rights Officers (FROs), the Frontex team that monitors respect for migrants’ rights in returns and border control operations.

The size of the FRO team is decided “on an annual basis, based on resources,” an EU official told Euronews, in a further cause for concern for NGOs.

“This proposal massively expands Frontex’s powers to track, control and deport, without introducing stronger human rights safeguards,” said Chiara Catelli, advocacy officer at PICUM, a Brussels-based NGO defending migrants’ rights.

“All this for an agency with a track record of allegations of complicity in fundamental rights violations,” she said.

Source: www.euronews.com