Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Report on the evaluation and future development of the FRONTEX Agency {SEC(2008) 148} {SEC(2008) 149} {SEC(2008) 150}
Date: 2008-02-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU office or agency, cross-border cooperation, external border of the EU, management, migratory movement, report

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 13.2.2008 
COM(2008) 67 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Report on the evaluation and future development of the FRONTEX Agency 

{SEC(2008) 148} 
{SEC(2008) 149} 
{SEC(2008) 150} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Report on the evaluation and future development of the FRONTEX Agency 

I. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

1 
2 
3 

INTRODUCTION  

The  European  Agency  for  the  Management  of  Operational  Cooperation  at  the 
External  Borders  of  the  Member  States  of  the  European  Union  (FRONTEX)  was 
established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/20041 (hereinafter the "FRONTEX 
Regulation"),  adopted  on  26  October  2004.  The  Agency  became  operational  in 
October 2005.  

The objective of FRONTEX is to improve the integrated management of the external 
borders  of  the  Member  States  of  the  European  Union  by  facilitating  and  rendering 
more effective the application of existing and future Community measures related to 
the  management  of  external  borders,  i.e.  the  land  and  sea  borders  of  the  Member 
States and their airports and seaports, to which the provisions of Community law on 
the crossing of external borders by persons apply.  

In the 2004 Hague Programme the European  Council requested the Commission to 
submit  a  political  evaluation  of  the  FRONTEX  Agency  by  the  end  of  2007.  The 
evaluation should contain a review of the tasks of the Agency and an assessment of 
whether the Agency should concern itself with other aspects of border management, 
including  enhanced  cooperation  with  customs  services  and  other  competent 
authorities  for  goods-related  security  matters.  According  to  the  Action  Plan 
implementing  the  Hague  Programme2  the  evaluation  should  also  cover  the 
functioning of the teams of national experts and the feasibility of a European border 
guard system. This Communication is the reply from the Commission to this request.  

It assesses the results so far, while taking into account the short period during which 
the Agency has been operational, in relation to each of the main tasks of FRONTEX 
i.e.  Article  2(1)(a-g)  of  the  FRONTEX  Regulation3.  It  will  make  recommendations 
for  measures  that  can  be  taken  in  the  short  term,  within  the  limits  of  its  current 
mandate, and outline a long-term vision for the future development of FRONTEX.  

Detailed statistical data on the activities of FRONTEX 2006-2007 are presented in a 
separate annex, including information on objectives and results of each operation and 
further  details  on  outputs  in  relation  to  the  different  activities  of  the  Agency.  An 
impact assessment is attached to this Communication. 

OJ L 349, 25.11.2004, p. 1. 
OJ C 198, 12.8.2005, p. 1. 
As modified by Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing 
a mechanism for the creation of Rapid Border Intervention Teams ("RABITs Regulation") (OJ L 199, 
31.7.2007, p. 30). 

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5. 

II. 

A. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

In  2008  the  Management  Board  of  FRONTEX  will  commission  an  independent 
external  evaluation  to  be  carried  out  pursuant  to  Article  33  of  the  FRONTEX 
Regulation. That independent technical and regulatory evaluation will examine how 
effectively  the  Agency  fulfils  its  mission,  assess  its  impact  and  working  practices, 
and take into account the views of stakeholders at European and national level.  

EVALUATION - ACHIEVEMENTS 2005-2007 

Coordination of operational cooperation between the Member States in the field 
of management of external borders 

Joint operations and pilot projects 

The Agency has taken forward joint operations at all types of borders, with in 2006 
and 2007 respectively 5 and 4 sea border operations, 2 and 10 land border operations, 
and 2 and 5 air border operations, and an additional 3 and 2 operations in 2006 and 
2007  respectively  covering  several  types  of  borders.  A  total  of  10  pilot  projects 
(2006-2007) have been implemented to complement the joint operations.  

Participation by Member States in joint operations can range from the deployment of 
one expert to the deployment of equipment such as vessels and aircraft. On average, 
7 Member  States participated in sea borders, 9 in land border, and 11 in air border 
operations (2006-2007 together). For those sea border operations that have involved 
maritime patrols (7), between 1 and 4 have participated with equipment in the form 
of  aircraft,  vessels  or  helicopters  in  each  of  those  operations,  excluding  the 
contributions of the host state, with between 0 and 2 vessels in each operation. 

Due  to  the  need  for  deployment  of  equipment  in  sea  border  operations  the  costs 
involved are substantially higher – on average 2,7 million euro – than for land and air 
borders respectively: 83 000 and 194 000 euro. 

Results of joint operations cannot be summarised solely in quantifiable terms. There 
are  other  benefits  such  as  exchanging  best  practices  and  information  between 
Member  States  and  stimulating  day-to-day  cooperation  between  national  border 
guard  authorities.  Nevertheless  the  quantifiable  results  so  far  must  be  considered 
impressive:  more  than  53 000  persons,  for  2006  and  2007  together,  have  been 
apprehended or denied entry at the border during these operations. More than 2 900 
false  or  falsified  travel  documents  have  been  detected  and  58  facilitators  of  illegal 
migration arrested. 

Other related initiatives 

Following  a  request  from  the  European  Council  in  December  2006,  the  European 
Patrols  Network  (EPN)  started  in  May  2007.  FRONTEX  and  the  Member  States 
concerned  (Portugal,  Spain,  France,  Italy,  Slovenia,  Malta,  Greece  and  Cyprus)  are 
working on a regional basis with bilateral cooperation between neighbouring states. 
Patrols have been limited to areas close to the coasts of the Member States involved.  

As requested by the Council in October 2006 the Agency has set up a Central Record 
of  Available  Technical  Equipment  (CRATE),  as  foreseen  in  Article  7  of  the 
FRONTEX  Regulation,  for  border  control  and  surveillance.  The  CRATE  database 

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contains  for  the  moment  over  a  hundred  vessels,  around  20  aircraft  and  25 
helicopters  and  several  hundreds  of  border  control  equipment  such  as  mobile  radar 
units, vehicles, thermal cameras and mobile detectors. While primarily intended to be 
used  on  a  bilateral  basis  between  Member  States,  it  provides  an  inventory  of 
equipment  that  can  be  used  in  joint  operations  also.  So  far  only  a  modest  use  of 
equipment has been made for the latter purpose (one instance of using border check 
equipment and one using an aircraft).  

12. 

FRONTEX has faced high expectations from EU institutions, Member States and the 
public  at  large  to  take  forward  operational  coordination  to  counter  illegal 
immigration at the southern maritime borders. As demonstrated by the results so far, 
these  operations  are  the  most  cost-intensive  and  resource  demanding  of  all  the 
operational activities carried out by FRONTEX. The participation of Member States 
remains however limited in operations involving maritime patrols compared to other 
types of operations. 

Recommendations 

13. 

Against this background and since the budgetary authority has raised the budget of 
FRONTEX  significantly  for  2008  (it  now  totals  70  million  euro),  the  Commission 
considers the following factors essential as concerns the short-term developments of 
operational coordination:  

•  The potential of CRATE, and the commitments made by Member States, must be 
exploited to the full to ensure the availability of the necessary equipment for sea 
border  operations.  FRONTEX  is  invited  to  report  regularly  to  the  European 
Institutions on the actual use made of the equipment (for operations coordinated 
by FRONTEX as well bilaterally between Member States) and to what extent this 
use is adequate in relation to the needs as well as to inform about a mechanism to 
ensure  the  availability  of  the  equipment  offered  by  Member  States.  .FRONTEX 
could  also  increase  the  potential  of  CRATE  by  acquiring  or  leasing  its  own 
equipment.  

•  The  FRONTEX  Regulation  provides  for  the  possibility  to  set  up  specialised 
branches  of  the  Agency  in  the  Member  States,  through  which  the  Agency  may 
operate for the practical organisation of joint operations and pilot projects. In view 
of the developments towards permanent operations and the evolution of the tasks 
for  the  Agency  as  a  whole,  serious  consideration  should  now  be  given  to  the 
setting up of such branches in the appropriate regions and/or with regard to types 
of  border  control,  with  a  priority  given  to  a  branch  for  the  southern  maritime 
borders.  

•  FRONTEX  should  analyse  how  the  joint  operations  can  be  merged  with  the 
European  Patrols  Network,  as  both  measures  are  of  a  more  structural  character 
and overlaps between them must be avoided.  

•  The  Commission  will  review,  as  a  consequence  of  the  substantial  increase  for 
2008,  the  multi-annual  programming  of  the  budget  of  FRONTEX  for  the 
remaining  period  of  the  current  financial  framework  and  submit  proposals  as 
appropriate to the budgetary authority. 

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B. 

14. 

15. 

C. 

16. 

17. 

Assistance  to  Member  States  on  training  of  their  national  border  guards, 
including the establishment of common training standards 

The activities of FRONTEX in training follow from the previous Ad Hoc Centre for 
Border  Guard  Training,  whose  activities  were  fully  taken  over  by  FRONTEX  in 
2005. A total  of  97 trainings, meetings  and workshops including  training of  border 
guards  and  "training  of  trainers"  have  been  organised  with  a  total  of  1 341 
participants.  The  common  core  curriculum,  aiming  at  standardising  the  training  of 
border  guards  all  over  Europe,  is  currently  subject  to  review.  While  the  impact  of 
training activities can only be assessed in the long-term, it is clear that the approach 
chosen  with  FRONTEX  acting  as  the  operational  coordinator  for  training  based  on 
partnerships  with  national  academies  has  proven  successful  and  therefore  merits  to 
be expanded. 

Recommendations 

The  competences  of  border  guards  to  apply  in  a  correct  and  consistent  manner  the 
Schengen  acquis,  in  particular  the  Schengen  Borders  Code,  must  remain  the  key 
objective  of  the  training  activities  of  FRONTEX.  However,  the  experiences  gained 
from  joint  operations  show  that  border  guards  are  frequently  confronted  with 
situations involving persons seeking international protection or crisis situations at sea 
(see  section  II.A).  The  Commission  considers  that  specialised  training  courses, 
including the exchange of personnel, should be organised by FRONTEX on relevant 
provisions  of  European  and  international  rules  on  asylum,  the  law  of  the  sea  and 
fundamental rights, in order to contribute to the full respect of these norms and to a 
consistent approach to situations involving search and rescue coordination.  

Carrying out risk analysis  

FRONTEX presented its second annual risk assessment in February 2007. A total of 
11 tailored assessments had been presented by the end of 2007, and a further 9 are 
under preparation for completion in early 2008. FRONTEX has been contributing to 
the Organised Crime Threat Assessment Report (OCTA) and has presented together 
with  Europol  a  report  on  the  high  risk  routes  regarding  illegal  immigration  in  the 
Western  Balkans.  Beyond  these  assessments,  which  i.a.  support  Member  States  in 
reacting to new threats and in focussing resources to specific sections of the border, 
risk  analysis  plays  a  pivotal  role  in  most  activities  of  the  Agency,  including  the 
planning  of  individual  joint  operations  and  training  activities.  In  addition  the  role 
allocated  to  FRONTEX  under  the  European  Borders  Fund  is  crucial  for  the 
allocation of financial resources to the Member States.  

In  2007  FRONTEX  has  been  connected  to  ICONet,  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging 
information  with  Member  States  regarding  risk  analysis,  preparation  of  joint 
operations  and  return.  The  ICONet  was  established  by  Council  Decision 
2005/267/EC4  and  is  operational  since  2006.  It  is  a  secure  web-based  network  for 
information  exchange  between  the  migration  management  services  on  irregular 
immigration, illegal entry and immigration and return of illegal residents.  

4 

OJ L 83, 1.4.2005, p. 48. 

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18. 

FRONTEX  participates in  the  meetings  of  the  CIREFI,  the  Centre  for  Information, 
Discussion and Exchange on the Crossing of Frontiers and Immigration which meets 
regularly  in  the  Council.  CIREFI  assists  Member  States  in  exchanging  information 
on  legal  immigration,  in  preventing  illegal  immigration  and  unlawful  residence,  on 
combating smuggling of human beings, improving the detection of false or falsified 
travel  documents  and  on  ways  of  improving  return  practices.  There  are  clear 
synergies  and  economies  of  scale  to  be  found  between  the  activities  covered  by 
CIREFI,  the  ICONet  and  the  activities  carried  out  by  the  Agency,  with  regard  to 
gathering, analysing and disseminating information related to illegal immigration.  

Recommendations 

•  Joint  risk  analysis  with  Europol,  international  organisations  and  relevant  third 
countries  (based  on  the  respective  working  arrangements)  should  be  given 
priority,  including  more  frequent  geographical  and/or  theme  oriented  joint  risk 
analysis, with relevant partners. 

•  FRONTEX  should  be  entrusted  with  the  management  of  the  ICONet,  under  the 
present or another technical platform such as the Frontex Information System; this 
should  also  aid  in  ensuring  that  better  use  is  made  of  the  immigration  liaison 
officers  network,  which  is  also  connected  to  the  ICONet;  and  taking  over  the 
activities of CIREFI. 

Follow  up  on  the  development  of  research  relevant  for  the  control  and 
surveillance of external borders 

FRONTEX has so far implemented 6 projects and 7 workshops/seminars on research 
and  development.  New  technologies play a vital role for the proposals made in the 
two Communications presented by the Commission in parallel with this report, on an 
entry-exit system and measures to automate border control and on a European Border 
Surveillance  System.  For  the  former  the  BIOPASS  project  implemented  by 
FRONTEX  on  the  use  of  biometrics  at  airports  and  national  registered  traveller's 
schemes  provided  important  input,  and  for  the  latter  FRONTEX  will  play  an 
important  role  in  taking  forward  the  relevant  studies  that  will  shape  the  precise 
actions to be taken. 

The Agency will also take an active part in the work of the new European Security 
Research  and  Innovation  Forum,  under  which  a  separate  working  group  on  border 
security has been set up. 

Recommendations 

A  key  priority  for  the  future  must  be  to  ensure  that  the  specific  interests  of  border 
control authorities are duly reflected in research activities. FRONTEX has a unique 
role in ensuring that the practical needs of national border guard authorities can feed 
into  the  definition  of  future  research  priorities,  as  well  as  for  keeping  those 
authorities  informed  of  the  latest  developments  through  the  organisation  of 
workshops.  This  role  should  also  extend  to  the  development  of  practical  projects 
aiming at real life operational testing of new technologies, to assess their feasibility 
and  impact  on  current  procedures  and  to  liaise  with  the  European  standardisation 
institutes.  

D. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

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E. 

22. 

23. 

24. 

F. 

25. 

26. 

27. 

Assisting  Member  States  in  circumstances  requiring  increased  technical  and 
operational  assistance  at  external  borders,  and  deploying  Rapid  Border 
Intervention Teams 

The RABITs Regulation, which entered into force on 20 August 2007, has changed 
in  a  substantial  manner  the  provisions  of  the  founding  Regulation  of  FRONTEX 
regarding  the  support  to  Member  States  in  circumstances  requiring  increased 
technical  and  operational  assistance  at  the  external  borders.  It  provides  a  "rapid 
reaction  capacity"  for  a  reinforcement  of  human  resources  to  a  Member  State  in 
need.  

The  preparatory  works  for  implementing  the  Regulation  were  completed  by 
FRONTEX  shortly  after  the  Regulation  was  adopted.  500-600  border  guards  make 
up the "RABIT pool". An exercise was conducted during the autumn of 2007. So far 
no Member State has made a request for the deployment of a RABIT team. 

Recommendations 

The  deployment  of  a  RABIT  team  can  be  combined  with  technical  assistance  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  Article  8  of  the  FRONTEX  Regulation.  The 
Commission  recommends  that  this  provision  be  made  more  operational  by 
FRONTEX  acquiring  its  own  equipment  for  border  control  and  surveillance,  to  be 
used by the RABIT teams, in order to ensure the availability of equipment at short 
notice.  Alternatively,  equipment  listed  in  CRATE  could  be  used  for  this  purpose 
also,  but  the  rules  would  need  to  be  reviewed  in  order  to  ensure  speedy  and 
unconditional availability of the equipment for the RABIT teams.  

Providing Member States with the necessary support in organising joint return 
operations 

The  Agency  has  provided  assistance  for  the  organisation  of  nine  joint  return 
operations.  A  further  6  projects  have  been  taken  forward  on  issues  such  as  best 
practices  for  the  acquisition  of  travel  documents  and  in  order  to  regularly  identify 
common needs for joint return operations. 

The strengthening of the role of FRONTEX in supporting joint return operations was 
the subject of an in-depth discussion during the German Presidency, resulting in the 
adoption  by  the  Council  of  a  set  of  conclusions  in  June  2007.  The  conclusions 
included  a  call  for  Member  States  to  involve  FRONTEX  when  planning  and 
organising  joint  return  flights  and  to  identify  needs  for  joint  returns.  This  is  a  key 
task  of  FRONTEX,  but  results  so  far  show  that  the  frequency  and  intensity  of  that 
support is lagging behind the progress made with regard to operational coordination.  

Recommendations 

The  Commission  fully  supports  the  implementation  of  the  Council  conclusions  of 
June  2007,  which  provide  an  exhaustive  set  of  priorities  for  the  short  to  medium 
term.  The  recommendation  put  forward  in  this  report  (see  section  II.C)  for 
FRONTEX  to  manage  the  ICONet  will  contribute  to  enhancing  the  capacity  of 
FRONTEX  for  this  purpose  also.  In  addition,  consideration  should  be  given  to 
reviewing the scope of Article 7 of the FRONTEX Regulation on CRATE, which for 

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the  moment  is  limited  to  equipment  for  border  control  and  surveillance  but  which 
could  be  extended  to  also  cover  equipment,  including  equipment  leased  by 
FRONTEX, for joint return operations, such as aircraft. 

III. 

LONG-TERM VISION 

28. 

29. 

A. 

30. 

FRONTEX will be central for the long-term development of the Union's integrated 
border management strategy. Its role should be expanded as necessary in response to 
concrete needs, based on a step-by-step approach and a gradual reinforcement of its 
administrative capacity, and on a continuous evaluation of how it fulfils its tasks. A 
long-term  vision  should  consider  how  FRONTEX  can  provide  added  value  to  the 
integrated  border  management  model  as  a  whole  as  well  as  to  its  individual 
components,  in  particular  with  regard  to  measures  in  cooperation  with  third 
countriesand to measures at the borders. Furthermore, in the context of the integrated 
EU  Maritime  Policy,  FRONTEX  is  expected  to  contribute  substantially  to  achieve 
more efficient cross-border and cross-sector cooperation between authorities and EU 
Agencies involved in offshore activities. 

As  concerns  the  integrated  border  management  model  as  a  whole,  the  potential  of 
FRONTEX should be exploited for the benefit of the overall Schengen framework. 
While the scope of issues covered by the mechanism for Schengen evaluations goes 
beyond the mandate of FRONTEX – covering also visas, police cooperation and data 
protection - it is clear that FRONTEX could provide added value to these evaluations 
through  its  independent  status,  its  expertise  on  external  border  control  and 
surveillance  and  its  activities  on  training  and  risk  analysis.  The  Commission  will 
present a proposal, as requested by the Hague Programme, in the second half of 2008 
for a complementary mechanism for evaluating existing Schengen states, which will 
include concrete proposals with regard to the possible role of FRONTEX. 

Measures in cooperation with third countries 

In the cooperation with third countries, FRONTEX has to ensure coherence between 
its activities and the overall framework of the external relations policy. The mandate 
of  FRONTEX  as  concerns  cooperation  with  third  countries  is  limited  in  the  sense 
that  projects  aiming,  for  example,  at  technical  assistance  cannot  be  carried  out  by 
FRONTEX in third countries. Consideration should be given to whether FRONTEX 
should  have  the  possibility  of  carrying  out  pilot  projects  with  third  countries  as 
beneficiaries. Such projects could significantly strengthen the impact of cooperation 
launched  under  the  working  arrangements,  where  the  latter  can  serve  to  identify 
concrete  needs  for  capacity  building  with  regard  to  border  management  in  specific 
third  countries,  and  be  complementary  to  assistance  funded  through  Community 
programmes.  At  a  later  stage,  and  against  the  background  of  the  Lisbon  Treaty,  a 
reflection  could  be  initiated  on  what  role  the  Agency  can  have  regarding  the 
participation in European border control missions conducted in third countries.  

31. 

FRONTEX has concluded working arrangements aiming at establishing cooperation 
at technical level with border guard authorities in Russia, Ukraine and Switzerland. 
Negotiations  are  well  advanced  with  Croatia.  Mandates  have  been  given  by  the 
Management Board to negotiate further arrangements with FYROM, Turkey, Egypt, 
Libya,  Morocco,  Mauritania,  Senegal,  Cape  Verde,  Republic  of  Moldova  and 

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Georgia.  The  Agency  foresees  requesting  mandates  in  the  short/mid-term  for  the 
other  Western  Balkan  states,  countries  of  West  Africa,  the  US  and  Canada.  In  the 
short-term,  priority  should  be  awarded  to  strengthened  cooperation  between 
FRONTEX  and  countries  which  have  been  offered  the  perspective  of  EU 
membership,  as  well  as  those  third  countries  that  have  been  identified  as  problem 
areas  through  the  joint  operations  and  the  risk  analysis  carried  out  by  FRONTEX. 
Building  upon  the  TACIS  projects  the  possibility  of  developing  a  cooperation 
between FRONTEX and Belarus could be explored. 

B. 

Measures at the border 

Horizontal integration 

32. 

33. 

34. 

35. 

An  improved  cooperation  between  the  relevant  customs  and  other  border  control 
authorities  of  the  Member  States  is  a  key  element  of  the  integrated  border 
management model, whereby persons and goods are controlled using similar working 
methods  and  risk  management  approaches.  A  further  analysis  of  the  content  of  a 
single window concept, where the activities of border and customs authorities will be 
fully integrated with each other, should be pursued taking into account the on-going 
evaluation of the future of customs. 

The Commission will launch a study for the purpose of identifying best practices in 
Member States on inter-agency cooperation. To promote cooperation on the ground, 
pilot  projects  at  European  level  could  further  explore  the  added  value  of  deepened 
these  authorities.  The  Commission 
coordination  of 
recommends  FRONTEX, 
to  conduct 
FRONTEX/Commission-led  joint  operations  in  coordination  with  cooperation 
projects  of  national  customs  authorities,  ie  the  implementation  of  two  parallel 
projects on control of persons and on control of goods respectively at the same time 
and at the same border crossing points. 

the  Commission  and  Member  States 

the  activities  between 

Border surveillance - EUROSUR 

In  parallel  with  this  current  evaluation  report  the  Commission  presents  a 
Communication  outlining  a  roadmap  for  the  development  and  setting  up  of  a 
European  Border  Surveillance  System.  The  role  of  FRONTEX  is  crucial  for  the 
successful preparation of such a system, including creating a network integrating all 
maritime  surveillance  systems,  as  already  noted  in  the  section  devoted  to  research 
and development in this report. 

In  more  operational  terms  FRONTEX  could  take  on  the  role  as  a  "hub"  for  an 
improved system of exchange of real-time, operational information between Member 
States.  In  addition,  giving  FRONTEX  access  to  surveillance  information  in  a  more 
systematic and structured manner could serve as the basis for the development of a 
‘FRONTEX intelligence led information system’ targeting the external borders of the 
EU.  

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36. 

37. 

38. 

39. 

Operational coordination 

Operational  coordination  has  already  proved  itself  the  key  instrument  of  the 
European  Union  in  ensuring  operational  solidarity  between  Member  States  and 
channelling resources to the sections of the external border with the greatest needs. 
As  stated  in  the  impact  assessment  accompanying  the  RABIT  proposal,  the 
Commission  intends  to  return  to  the  question  of  a  fully  fledged  European  Border 
Guard  system  when  experiences  have  been  gathered  on  the  functioning  of  those 
teams.  It  is  nevertheless  clear  that  two  questions  arise  already  at  this  stage 
concerning the organisation of operational coordination in the long term, as concerns 
maritime patrols.  

Firstly,  how  the  current  system  of  allocating  resources  to  those  sections  can  be 
further improved. The Commission will keep under close review the extent to which 
sufficient  equipment  and  human  resources  can  be  put  at  the  disposal  by  Member 
States, using current mechanisms, and the degree of reinforcement that the European 
Borders Fund can provide in the longer term to individual Member States based on 
the risks at the external borders. 

Secondly, the cost-effectiveness of the current mechanisms will need to be reviewed 
in the long-term also having regard to, for example, the administrative costs involved 
in ensuring the coordination of the deployment of assets and human resources on an 
ad hoc basis.  

Further practical experiences will feed into a long-term strategy which will need to 
consider to what extent coordination of Member States' resources should be replaced 
with  the  assignment  of  border  guards  and  equipment  on  a  permanent  basis.  A 
deployment  of  that  nature  may  call  for  reviewing  the  legal  framework  as  concerns 
the  executive  powers  of  the  members  of  RABITs teams and guest officers,  and for 
assessing whether FRONTEX should employ border guards itself and/or whether it 
should acquire and/or lease equipment for the purpose of permanent operations.  

IV. 

CONCLUSIONS 

40. 

41. 

invites 

the  Council 

to  prioritise  a  discussion  on 

The  Commission 
the 
recommendations of a short-term nature put forward in this report, having regard to 
the  need  to  maximise  as  soon  as  possible  the  contribution  of  FRONTEX  for  the 
management  of  in  particular  the  southern  maritime  borders  of  the  Union.  The 
recommendations related to the role of FRONTEX in Eurosur should also be taken 
forward  with  priority  based  on  the  separate  Communication  presented  by  the 
Commission on the establishment of such a system. 

On that basis an in-depth discussion should be launched on the longer term strategy 
to be pursued by the Union with regard to the role FRONTEX is expected to play in 
the  development  of  the  integrated  border  management  model,  including  the 
reinforced  cooperation  mechanism  with  third  countries,  and  in  ensuring  a  sound 
management of migration flows. 

EN 

10 

   EN 

 
42. 

Taking  into  account  the  outcome  of  these  discussions  and  the  results  of  the 
independent  evaluation  to  be  carried  out  pursuant  to  Article  33  of  the  FRONTEX 
Regulation, the Commission will consider presenting legislative proposals to amend 
the  FRONTEX  Regulation.  In  the  longer  term  it  will  take  into  account  future 
experiences gained in relation to the new rules on executive powers of members of 
RABIT teams and guest officers in order to review the need for revisiting the overall 
legal framework for operations coordinated by FRONTEX. 

EN 

11 

   EN