The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, celebrated the expansion of its operations to include countries that are not part of the European Union.
Frontex’s 2021 report revealed that the agency will focus on expanding its influence in the Western Balkan countries. Furthermore, the same objective is to influence European information sharing and border surveillance with non-EU countries, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“Through trusting relationships with border and coastal authorities of a number of third countries, Frontex has proven that it can strengthen its operational activities through effective action outside the EU in cooperation with key countries of origin”, Frontex said.
According to Statewatch, the potential deployment of a Frontex liaison officer in Pakistan as well as capacity building of national services in Central Asia are also discussed.
Throughout 2021, Frontex has mainly focused on the Western Balkan countries. The Agency launched the joint operation Serbia Land on the border between Serbia and Bulgaria and also aimed to increase technical and operational assistance by coordinating activities to combat cross-border crime and illegal migration, Statewatch explains.
In addition, the Agency has also extended its operations in Albania to cover maritime borders and establish border security, information exchange and operational cooperation.
In 2021, Frontex also concluded Phase II of the project “Regional Support to Protection Sensitive Migration Management”. In addition to the Western Balkan countries, the project was also to include Turkey. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical situation, work in Turkey has been suspended.
Previously, Frontex said the Western Balkan route was the busiest in the first six months of 2022. Last July, Frontex revealed that the agency had recorded around 114,720 irregular entries into the EU in the first half of 2022, which represents an increase of 84% compared to the same period last year.
“The most significant increase was recorded on the Western Balkan route, where the number of detections almost tripled compared to the first six months of 2021. This increase can be attributed to attempts to cross migrants already present in the Balkans western”, says Frontex.
In the first half of 2022, the Western Balkan route had 55,321 illegal crossings, representing half of all detections. The main nationals detected on the Western Balkan route were migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey.
The route with the second highest number of detections in the first half of 2022 was the central Mediterranean. On this route, Frontex recorded 25,164 irregular border crossings, the main nationalities being Bangladeshis, Egyptians and Tunisians.
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