When it comes to European border control the numbers speak for themselves. With 42,672 km of external sea borders and 8,826 km of land borders, the Schengen free-movement area comprises 25 countries (including a number of non-EU states) enabling free internal travel for nearly half a billion people across the continent, with 300,000 crossings at the external borders in 2009 alone. The Schengen zone is a unique global phenomenon and the number of people crossing its external borders is expected to keep rising. Within this context, Frontex’s responsibility is essentially simple, though in practice daunting: To ensure that the EU’s external borders remain permeable and efficient for bona fide travellers while being an effective barrier to cross-border crime.
The abolition of internal borders within most of mainland Europe provided an unprecedented freedom of movement for its citizens. With such freedoms, however, come responsibility. In the case of the Schengen acquis, that responsibility was to strengthen the external border through mutual co-operation between the various players in European security. To this end, in 2005, Frontex was established to enhance external border security by co-ordinating the operational co-operation of EU Member States, Schengen Associated Countries and other partners.
Since November 2004, when the area of Freedom, Security and Justice was created through the Council’s acceptance of The Hague Programme, European security architecture has gradually developed through everyday Schengen co-operation, strengthening previous agreements enshrined in legal acts such as the Amsterdam Treaty and political guidelines from Tampere, Laeken and Seville as well as the Thessaloniki Council conclusions. Frontex’s role within this context is to reinforce and streamline co-operation between Europe’s border-control players.
Simply put, the Schengen area is only as strong as its weakest link. This is why Frontex promotes a pan-European model of Integrated Border Management. This has been the subject of an evolutionary process, bringing together nationally focused systems underlying the sovereignty of each state to create a common operational model for co-operation at the external borders.
Frontex’s mandated responsibilities fall into six categories:
Risk analysis – Frontex has an ongoing information-gathering system to monitor the day-to-day situation at the EU’s external borders. This information is then analysed to optimise the allocation of resources.
Co-ordination of operational co-ordination between Member States – On the basis of risk analysis activities, Frontex proposes joint operations at the Union’s external land, sea and air borders in which Member States are invited to take part.
Training – Frontex assists Member States in the development of common training standards for border guard authorities, including a Common Core Curriculum, with a view to implementing a policy of Integrated Border Management.
Facilitating the attainment of research and development goals – Frontex serves as a platform to bring together Europe’s 400,000 border personnel and the world of industry to bridge the gap between technological advancement and the needs of the end user.
Providing a rapid crisis-response capability available to all Member States – Not all developments can be predicted through constant monitoring and risk analysis. For this reason, Frontex has created a pooled resource in the form of Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs) bringing together specialist technical and human resources from across the EU. These teams are kept in full readiness in case there is ever an unforeseen crisis situation at the external border.
Assisting Member States in joint return operations – When Member States make the decision to return foreign nationals staying illegally who have failed to leave voluntarily, Frontex assists those Member States’ governments in co-ordinating their efforts to maximise efficiency and cost-effectiveness while also ensuring that respect for fundamental rights and the human dignity of returnees is maintained at every stage of the operation.
Frontex is a community body with legal identity as well as operational and budgetary autonomy. It is governed by its Management Board, which consists of operational heads of national border guard services and representatives of the European Commission. This Board is entrusted with the necessary powers to set the budget, verify its execution, adopt the appropriate financial rules, establish transparent working procedures for decision making by the Agency and to appoint the Executive Director and his deputy.
