Frontex activities were not sufficiently developed to provide effective support to Member States and Schengen associated countries, an audit by the European Court of Auditors has found.
Address a press briefing on Monday, European Court of Auditors member Leo Brincat who is the lead author of a critical audit on Frontex’s support to external border management, has called on Frontex to improve its operational response.
The European Court of Auditors assessed whether Frontex carried out four out of its six primary activities effectively to contribute to implementing European integrated border management and thus supporting Member States to prevent, detect and respond to illegal immigration and cross-border crime. As well as examined the preparedness of Frontex to fulfil its new and expanded 2019 mandate.
The audit found that Frontex activities were not sufficiently developed to provide effective support to Member States/Schengen associated countries and that the deployment of resources to fight cross border crime was found to be insufficiently effective too.
Brincat noted that Frontex which was created in 2004 to address the EU’s border concerns, namely terrorism, trafficking, and migrant smuggling, had not fully implemented its 2016 mandate. Brincat underlined that there is a significant risk that the agency would struggle to carry out the 2019 mandate.
During the briefing, Brincat called on Frontex to address citizens’ concerns regarding security and safety in the Europea Union.
Frontex was created in 2004 to address the EU’s border concerns, namely terrorism, trafficking, and migrant smuggling.
Since its establishment, the staff employed by the agency went from 45 in 2005 to 749 in 2019. It plans to employ 10,000 people by the end of 2027. Furthermore, the agency’s regulation has been amended four times, with its budget going from €19 million in 2006 to €330 million in 2019. The agency plans an average annual budget of €900 million to cover its upgraded tasks and functions.
The agency became the European Border and Control Guard Agency in 2016 with a mandate to facilitate European Integrated Border Management at the EU’s external border. Three years later, its role was further enhanced to an operational one.
During the audit phase both the audit team and Mr Brincat himself visited Frontex in Warsaw as well as the Polish and Italian Coast Guard. He also met various MEPs from different political groupings with a keen interest in the topic when drawing up the report.
Brincat said that the ECA audit concluded that although a functioning information exchange framework is in place to support the fight against illegal immigration it did not function well enough to provide accurate, complete and up to date situational awareness of the EU’s external borders.
The Maltese auditor said the report was intended to get Frontex to improve its act since its tasks at the EU’s external borders were essential for the fight against cross border crime and illegal immigration.
Human right activists set up Abolish Frontex network
Earlier this month, a decentralised and autonomous network of humanitarian groups, organisations and individuals was launched by civil society activists all over Europe calling for Frontex to be abolished. The group which goes under #AbolishFrontex states that it is working towards ending the EU border regime; dismantling the border-industrial complex, and building a society where people are free to move and live.
The international network has described Frontex as personifying the EU’s “repressive” migration and border policies. Among its demands one finds a call to suspend all Frontex operations and remove all Frontex presence. A call to end pushbacks and an appeal to EU member states urging them to refuse to participate in Frontex missions, as well as calling on EU member states to refrain from requesting Frontex support for border operations and deportations, among other demands.
