Frontex will be able to deport migrants from outside the EU

BrusselsBrussels wants to give more powers to Frontex, the European Union agency in charge of border management. The European executive proposes to strengthen the body's role in deportations so that it can return immigrants to their country of origin from non-EU territory. Thus, for example and according to the planned reform, the agency could return a person from Mali who is in Morocco. To carry out these operations, however, it will be necessary for the third country in question to have previously signed a specific agreement with the EU.

The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, has justified the new regulations by ensuring that it aims to "save lives". According to his explanation, intercepting migration routes as early as possible prevents migrants from facing a "very demanding and dangerous" journey. A measure he considers to be in the interest of "these people and also of the EU".

The reform comes months after the migration crisis in Ceuta and incorporates the monitoring of social media content, a fact that the EU considers a "lesson" learned from the massive arrival of immigrants in the autonomous city. Thus, a new center will be created to monitor activity on social networks capable of detecting migratory movements before they occur and those who cross borders without authorization. Frontex will also be able to remove such content when it deems it appropriate.

In the same vein, it plans to create a rapid reaction force that can be deployed to any point of EU territory within 24 hours to assist member states in the face of emergencies or "crisis" situations at the borders. Mind you, it will not be able to act unilaterally; it can only be deployed if the affected member state explicitly requests it.

"Based on the lessons learned from the sudden arrival of irregular migrants in Ceuta in the summer of 2026, we are prioritizing the anticipation and prevention of crises, as well as a rapid response to emergencies", explained the Executive Vice-President of the Commission responsible for Digital Sovereignty and Security, Henna Virkkunen.

More than 30,000 personnel

Brussels also plans to increase the number of personnel in the corps to reach 30,000 by the year 2041. On one hand, it will double the number of permanent agents, which will increase from 3,000 to 6,000. Secondly, it will create a reserve corps—formed by border guards from member states, but which can be deployed by Frontex—that will count 17,000 agents. And finally, it will count on the 7,000 personnel that the states already allocate to the European border agency.

To fund this, the agency's budget will grow. According to the plan by Von der Leyen's executive, Frontex's funding will practically double: it will go from the nearly 6 billion euros currently allocated for the 2021-2027 period to 11.8 billion euros for the next multiannual financial framework (2028-2034), an item that European institutions are currently negotiating.

When it began operating in 2005, Frontex had a budget of 6.3 million euros, which has multiplied by 180 in two decades. After the 2015 migration crisis, the expansion accelerated: the budget went from 143 million euros that year to 922 million in 2024.