EU considering Frontex for anti-drone defence

Brussels – The EU is now considering Frontex for the European anti-drone defence. The  incursions by unmanned aircraft in the skies over the Member States and beyond are prompting interior ministers to consider new purposes for the Union’s Coast Guard and Border Guard Agency, which governments have hitherto used to manage migration flows. The Warsaw-based agency, however, has a
wider function of managing the EU’s external borders and fighting against cross-border crime, not limited to human traffickers; hence, the idea is to shape its functions according to the different, new needs. 

“Reinforcing Frontex’s mandate is the priority of this Commission,” recalled Markus Lammert, the EU executive’s spokesperson for Home Affairs matters. He emphasised that the reasoning is underway, and that the proposal to reform the agency’s mandate will arrive “by the end of 2026.” This proposal, which is currently being developed, also includes “technological enhancements to border control.” Words and objectives that hint at how the focus of the External Borders Agency is to be shifted to the drone front. 

Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration [photo: Christophe Licoppe/imagoeconomica]

After all, “Frontex has already had the opportunity to be involved in drones with €150 million, and we intend to make an additional €250 million available from the border protection fund,” the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, emphasised at the end of the meeting of EU interior ministers organised by Germany last Saturday (4 October) in Munich. The meeting was intended to prepare for the work of the  Internal Affairs Council on October 14, where Berlin intends to raise the topic of strengthening border controls. 

The role of Frontex is starting to take centre stage in the political orientation, and Brunner confirms this once again when he points out that the Commission is beginning to test the ground about its intentions for the agency’s new mandate. It is too early to say what the endpoint will be, but he asks, “What tasks will Frontex have in the future?” Here, Brunner certainly imagines “the issue of critical infrastructure, such as airports.” 

It is undeniable that a possible recourse to the EU Coast Guard and Border Guard Agency to respond to airspace incursions is an idea gaining momentum. Violations are “a national issue, but also of management at the EU level,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said at the end of Saturday’s meeting.