The EU is quietly considering a major shift in Frontex’s role, with capitals examining whether the agency’s future standing corps should include drone operators, cyber-monitoring units, and AI-powered surveillance teams, according to new Council discussion documents seen by Euractiv.
Two notes from Denmark, current holder of the EU’s rotating Council presidency, dated 25 November, invite capitals to say whether they want the EU border control agency to move beyond traditional border-guard duties and develop specialised technical capabilities – from document-fraud detection to operating unmanned aerial systems for real-time monitoring – ahead of the Frontex regulation review scheduled for 2026.
Standing corps for what?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen floated a tripling of the agency’s standing corps to 30,000 by 2027 in her political guidelines last year. But capitals remain unconvinced.
To that end, Denmark is asking what capabilities EU capitals need the most: more human resources or technical equipment. The agency’s recruits could support EU countries with drone surveillance, document fraud, and combatting organised crime, the note says.
Frontex could also see its mandate extended to help countries with cyber security and artificial intelligence “in view of evolving hybrid and technological threats,” although the document does not spell out what the exact applications might be.
Euractiv reported last month that the bloc was already exploring plans to hand the EU border guard powers to assist with airspace surveillance and the protection of critical infrastructure.
Capitals are also discussing setting up a new border-management force made up of national staff trained by Frontex to be deployed for “extraordinary situations”. It is still unclear whether the new category would be counted within a tripled standing corps.
The scope of the new mandate could change further, due to the “constantly evolving nature of threats” on the EU’s external borders, the papers note.
The EU executive is also weighing a broader role for Frontex in returns operations and cooperation with partner countries outside the bloc, EU migration chief Magnus Brunner said. Euractiv already reported in September that the agency could even take on tasks such as organising migrant transfers between non-EU states, something current rules do not allow.
Who controls Frontex?
With the agency set to expand again, governments will also debate a power reshuffle at the top of the agency, including the establishment of an external evaluation body to audit its operations for the first time.
The current Frontex regulation already gives the European Parliament, the Council, and the Court of Auditors significant budgetary and supervisory powers.
Day-to-day management is concentrated in the hands of the executive director and a management board that carries out more than 30 statutory tasks but operates without any formal preparatory body involving all EU capitals.
Denmark is also floating creating a new evaluation mechanism dedicated to Frontex – something that does not exist today – and rebalancing powers between the management board and executive director.
Fundamental-rights oversight also adds another layer of complexity. The current framework – the fundamental rights officer, 40 monitors, a complaints mechanism, and the Article 46 power to suspend operations – is substantial on paper but uneven in practice, prompting some delegations to reflect on whether tighter, more enforceable safeguards are needed before Frontex takes on new tasks in the upcoming review.
(cp, aw)