Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU reached a provisional political agreement on Thursday 28 March on the new mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (ex-Frontex) following a fifth trilogue negotiation session (see EUROPE 12223/23).
The new rules, which have yet to be formally approved, provide for a gradual increase in the number of staff at the European agency to 10,000 by 2027. In the meantime, an initial deployment of 5,000 officers in 2021 has been set. A rapid response reserve is also provided for urgent interventions.
This new permanent body could, at the request of a Member State, carry out missions relating to the control of the EU's borders, the return of migrants from an EU country to their country of origin and the fight against cross-border crime.
On the other hand, the return operations of irregular migrants from non-Member States to other non-Member States are not included in the agency's mandate, as requested by Parliament.
The reform proposed by the Commission in September 2018 was also intended to enable the former Frontex agency to better assist Member States in their return operations by helping them to identify the persons concerned and in administrative tasks such as obtaining travel documents.
An important point for Parliament was the monitoring of the respect of fundamental rights during operations and the number of staff dedicated to this task. A minimum of 40 agents will be assigned to carry out this mission. The Agency will also have to report to Parliament, the EU Council and the Commission on how respect for fundamental rights is being ensured. The European Parliament will also be able to control the Agency a little more closely alongside the national parliaments, with the Agency's management being required to attend joint meetings. But the European Parliament will not be able to monitor the functioning of the Agency any further.
The Greens/EFA Group lamented that this interinstitutional agreement had not made it possible to strengthen the European Agency's missions in terms of search and rescue at sea, while the EUNAVFORMed Sophia operation now lacks boats in the Mediterranean. It welcomed the exclusion of return operations from non-Member States to non-Member States from the agency's powers. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)