{"id":469436,"date":"2026-10-27T18:09:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/27\/parola-dordine-respingere-la-commissione-vuole-dare-piu-potere-a-frontex-per-i-rimpatri\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T19:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T18:00:48","slug":"with-return-as-the-watchword-the-commission-wants-to-give-frontex-more-power-over-repatriations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/27\/with-return-as-the-watchword-the-commission-wants-to-give-frontex-more-power-over-repatriations\/","title":{"rendered":"With “return” as the watchword, the Commission wants to give Frontex more power over repatriations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Illegal crossings of European borders have been more than halved and return rates exceed 30 per cent. Yet this is not enough: Frontex must be given even more staff, resources, and powers to turn back migrants. The European Commission today (27 October) proposed strengthening the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex<\/strong>, to boost its \u201ccapacity to protect external borders\u201d and to \u201ctransform it into the EU\u2019s central actor for returns.\u201d The reason? According to a statement from the EU executive, \u201cthe common external borders are being tested by a changed geopolitical and security context,\u201d and therefore new rules<\/a> are needed to strengthen the Agency\u2019s mandate. <\/p>\n

The fuse was lit in Ceuta by the events of this summer which, it seems, have alarmed the European Union, its internal market, and its 400 million inhabitants. \u201cEvents must not be allowed to turn into a crisis,\u201d pointed out<\/a> the European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner<\/strong>, referring to the border crossings that took place this summer in the Spanish exclave. All this despite the fact that o<\/span>ver the last two years \u2013 as the Berlaymont Building itself confirms \u2013 illegal border crossings have more than halved and the return rate has risen, now standing at over 30 per cent. That is not enough: we must continue to turn away \u2013 and do so with even greater force \u2013 people fleeing war, hunger, persecution, and economic hardship, certainly not from places where life is easy. <\/span>This is a problem that Brunner does not seem to recognise; if anything, he is concerned with the opposite, namely claiming that Frontex\u2019s new mandate will make it easier to “decide who we want in the EU and who can leave it.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Also today, <\/span>the Berlaymont Building presented a Regulation on<\/strong> digitalisation of case management in the area of return, readmission and reintegration<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong> with the aim of \u201creducing administrative burdens and providing a single digital interface for the entire return procedure.\u201d To come into force, both regulations must first be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.<\/p>\n

Frontex\u2019s new mandate<\/h4>\n

\n

With regard to returns, Member States remain primarily \u201cresponsible for border protection and the return of persons without the right of residence,\u201d and today\u2019s proposal aims to ensure that Frontex has \u201ca comprehensive approach to assist them in fulfilling this responsibility.\u201d The regulation sets out three priorities. Firstly, the pooling of resources and operational capabilities<\/strong>, which \u201cno single Member State could sustain on its own.\u201d Specifically, the Commission has proposed to \u201cgradually increase Frontex\u2019s permanent corps to 30,000 officers, creating a new \u2018European Border and Return Reserve\u2019 of 17,000 officers who will remain at the disposal of Member States and may be deployed where necessary.\u201d Added to this is \u201ceasier access to state-of-the-art equipment and technology.\u201d <\/p>\n

The second is to make the Agency \u201cstronger on returns\u201d by setting up \u201ca dedicated return coordination centre<\/strong> to gather and analyse operational information and support planning and coordination.\u201d Frontex\u2019s support will therefore cover \u201cthe entire spectrum of the return process, from early identification and advice on voluntary return to the conduct of return operations and the provision of reintegration assistance.\u201d <\/p>\n

At a press conference, Brunner stated that Frontex carried out \u201c64,000 returns last year, involving more than 220 flights.\u201d But \u201cwe can and must do better,\u201d he noted. The new framework will also \u201cenable us to support third countries with returns, both in terms of technical and operational assistance.\u201d According to a source close to the matter, at present, \u201cFrontex can provide technical assistance to third countries, mainly through training and capacity-building activities, on the basis of cooperation agreements.\u201d Today\u2019s proposal introduces the possibility of organising and carrying out returns from non-EU countries to other non-EU countries \u2013 in other words, deportations \u2013 for which \u201cit is necessary to conclude a specific agreement with the country concerned, which respects fundamental rights and the principle of non-refoulement.\u201d <\/p>\n

Finally, the \u201ceffective crisis response<\/strong>\u201d. This aims to ensure that the Agency is \u201cable to help identify dangerous trends in a timely manner and to intervene rapidly in the event of an emergency or crisis.\u201d This will take the form of \u201ca dedicated online monitoring and response centre, with an explicit mandate for Frontex to monitor publicly accessible social media content, identify developments relevant to the management of external borders, and support action against illegal online content linked to border security risks.\u201d <\/p>\n

Virkunnen stated that \u201ccriminal smuggling networks are becoming increasingly professional, adapting rapidly and using new technologies and social media to coordinate illegal crossings.\u201d For this reason, the \u201cnew online monitoring and response centre\u201d will be able to \u201cmonitor publicly accessible social media content in order to identify developments relevant to the management of external borders and support action against illegal online content linked to border security risks.\u201d Together, \u201cthese tools significantly improve early warning, preparedness, and crisis forecasting,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

The digitisation of repatriation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\n

The Commission has also proposed a new regulation to digitise return, readmission and reintegration procedures<\/strong> across the EU. The aim is to modernise the management of return cases, simplify and speed up administrative procedures through digitalisation, reduce administrative burdens and improve data collection and sharing. The new rules will also strengthen Frontex\u2019s role in developing a new EU digital architecture for Member States and will support the new Return Regulation, while respecting data protection rules and fundamental rights. Internal sources have clarified that the new initiative \u201cdoes not create a new centralised database,\u201d but is based on existing tools. Specifically, \u201cthree tools are envisaged, for three processes: a return case management system, a readmission case management system (for contacts with third countries) and a reintegration support tool.\u201d The rationale behind the new system is that \u201cnational systems are very diverse and do not communicate with one another or with Frontex\u201d. An EU official also hopes that the implementation of this system can be completed within four years. <\/p>\n

As part of the current negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework, the proposal put forward today calls for a budget of \u20ac11.8 billion<\/a> for Frontex, while it is currently allocated six billion. As to why it is necessary to double the budget, Brunner simply stated, \u201cit is the Member States who are asking for it<\/strong>\u201d and that, \u201cdespite return rates of 33 per cent, we have not achieved what we set out to do.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n

So, the figures tell a story <\/em>of success when it comes to repatriation, and this picture makes it difficult to understand why the European Commission insists on criminalising migrants. Brunner did not let his guard down: he simply shifted the blame onto the far right. \u201cA single Member State cannot tackle the issue of illegal migration on its own because there was enormous pressure on the entire system, on the security systems, and this was what was fuelling the far right\u201d and for this reason the Berlaymont Building \u201cmust regain control of the issue,\u201d he commented. Perhaps without realising that, in doing so, the Commission ends up legitimising and mimicking the far right. In pursuit of an electorate which, as in every election, always opts for the original when faced with a choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new measures provide for more funding, more officers on the ground, and also new regulations for the digitisation of return procedures. The European Commissioner for Migration, Brunner, said: \u201cThis will allow us to decide who we want in the Union and who we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":469385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29788],"tags":[25871,35144,25937,34267,31368,35217],"class_list":["post-469436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diritti-en","tag-ceuta","tag-frontex-en-2","tag-henna-virkunnen","tag-magnus-brown-and","tag-palazzo-berlaymont"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469437,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469436\/revisions\/469437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}