The EU’s border agency Frontex is set to gain new powers to return irregular migrants from one non-EU country to another, further extending European migration policy beyond the bloc’s borders.
The reforms give Frontex greater operational powers outside EU territory, in a move likely to provoke a backlash from civil society organisations.
Frontex officials can currently assist national authorities in returning irregular migrants from EU countries to their countries of origin, as well as patrol the bloc’s external borders and coastlines.
Under the new rules, the Warsaw-based agency will also be able to support authorities in third countries, such as North African governments, in returning Central African citizens to their countries of origin before they even attempt to reach European shores.
Several NGOs and civil society organisations are demanding that any expansion of Frontex’s mandate be accompanied by stronger oversight and accountability mechanisms to safeguard migrants’ fundamental rights. They argue that the agency has already been implicated in rights violations during its operations within Europe.
Any cooperation with a third country will, however, require a specific agreement with the country concerned, similar to the “status agreement” Frontex already has in place with several non-EU countries, including Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia.
These agreements allow Frontex officials to be deployed to carry out specific tasks, including joint operations and rapid border interventions on the territory of partner countries.
