Frontex Celebrates Expansion of Its Operations Beyond EU

The 2021 report of Frontex revealed that the Agency would focus on expanding its influence in the Western Balkan countries. In addition, the same aims to influence information sharing and the European Border Surveillance to non-EU countries, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

“Thanks to trusted relations with border and coast authorities in a number of third countries, Frontex has proved it can reinforce its operational activities with effective action outside the EU carried out in cooperation with key countries of origin,” Frontex stated.

According to Statewatch, the potential deployment of a Frontex liaison officer to Pakistan along with the capacity building of national services in Central Asia is also discussed.

Throughout 2021, Frontex mostly focused on Western Balkan countries. The Agency launched Joint Operation Serbia Land at the border between Serbia and Bulgaria and also aimed to increase technical and operational assistance by coordinating activities to tackle cross-border crime and illegal migration, Statewatch explains.

In addition, the Agency extended its operation in Albania too to cover maritime borders and to establish border security, exchange of information, and operational cooperation.

In 2021, Frontex also concluded the phase II of the “regional support to protection sensitive migration management” project. Besides the Western Balkan countries, the project was intended to include Turkey too. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical situation, the work in Turkey was put on hold.

Previously, Frontex said that the Western Balkan route was the most active in the first six months of 2022. Back in July, Frontex revealed that the Agency registered around 114,720 irregular entries into the EU in the first half of 2022, representing an increase of 84 per cent compared to the same period last year.

“The most significant increase was recorded on the Western Balkan route, where the number of detections increased nearly three-fold compared with the first six months of 2021. This increase can be attributed to crossing attempts by migrants already present in the Western Balkans,” Frontex said.

In the first half of 2022, the Western Balkan route accounted for 55,321 illegal crossings, which represents half of all detections. The main nationals detected on the Western Balkan route were migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, and Turkey.

The route with the second-highest number of detections in the first half of 2022 was the Central Mediterranean. In this route, Frontex registered 25,164 irregular border crossings, with the main nationalities being Bangladeshis, Egyptians, and Tunisians.