EU to give Frontex new powers to deport migrants from outside Europe

The EU’s border agency Frontex is set to gain new powers to return irregular migrants from one non-EU country to another, further extending European migration policy beyond the bloc’s borders, according to several EU officials who spoke to Euronews on condition of anonymity.

The reforms, which the European Commission will unveil on Tuesday, will give Frontex greater operational powers outside EU territory, in a move likely to provoke a backlash from civil society organisations.

Frontex officials can currently assist national authorities in returning irregular migrants from EU countries to their countries of origin, as well as patrol the bloc’s external borders and coastlines.

Under the new rules, the Warsaw-based agency will also be able to support authorities in third countries, such as North African governments, in returning Central African citizens to their countries of origin before they even attempt to reach European shores.

“The more people you return before [they reach Europe], the less you have to return after,” an EU official told Euronews.

Frontex officials will also be allowed to take part in deportations from return hubs, which a recently approved law allows EU countries to establish in third countries. Five EU governments are currently negotiating the creation of the first hub, which is expected to become operational in 2027.

Migrants whose asylum applications or right to remain in the EU have been rejected and who are hosted in these hubs are ultimately expected to be returned to their countries of origin. Frontex’s involvement could prove instrumental in carrying out the final transfers.

“It's no longer only an agency supporting EU countries at their borders. [...] It's a deportation agency, increasingly operating far away from the actual border of the EU,” Josephine Solanki, a researcher from the Amsterdam-based think tank Transnational Institute, said in a press briefing ahead of the reform.