EU Proposes a 30,000-Officer Frontex That Could Monitor Social Media and Help Deport People Between Non-EU Countries

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a new regulation for Frontex, the European Union's border and coast guard agency, that would grow its standing corps to 30,000 officers and give it a larger role in deportations, crisis response and online monitoring, according to the Commission's announcement. The proposal must be agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU before it takes effect.

The size increase has three parts, the Commission says. Frontex's own standing corps officers would double, a new "European border and return reserve" of 17,000 officers would be created for deployment when needed, and the existing 7,000 officers seconded from member states would remain. A summary published by the Brussels outlet 2eu.brussels says the 30,000 figure would be reached by 2041. The agency would also be able to buy, lease and co-own equipment and act as a central purchasing body, including for "digital and AI-enabled tools."

On returns, the agency would get a dedicated Return Coordination Centre and support "the full spectrum of the return process," from voluntary return counseling to carrying out operations and reintegration assistance. The proposal also says Frontex "will be able to help organise and carry out return operations from one non-EU country to another, subject to the conclusion of an agreement with the country concerned, in compliance with fundamental rights and international standards." That provision, which Reuters described as including transfers of migrants between non-EU countries, would extend the agency's work beyond the EU's own borders.

For crises, the Commission proposes a Quick Reaction Force that the Frontex executive director could deploy at very short notice after a request from a member state facing an emergency, and a requirement that member states report events with potential significant impact on EU borders within 24 hours through the EUROSUR network. The Commission says this responds to "lessons learned from this years' crisis in Ceuta," the Spanish enclave in North Africa.

The proposal would also create an Online Monitoring and Response Centre with "the explicit mandate for Frontex to monitor publicly accessible social media content, detect developments relevant for external border management, and support action against illegal online content linked to border-security risks." The Commission's text does not define which content would count as linked to border-security risks.

A companion regulation would digitalize return, readmission and reintegration procedures across the EU, following the entry into force of the new EU Return Regulation on Oct. 16, the Commission says. EU Commissioners Henna Virkkunen and Magnus Brunner presented the proposals, Reuters reported. The current Frontex regulation dates from 2019.

The Commission's announcement says the agency's work is carried out "always in full respect of fundamental rights and human dignity." It does not include a cost estimate for the expansion.

What remains unknown: the budget for the expansion, how member states in the Council will respond, how the social media monitoring mandate would be overseen, and which non-EU countries might sign agreements for third-country returns.