The European Commission is set to publish a proposal for a new Frontex regulation in the second half of this year. The review is expected to expand the mandate of the EU border agency, strengthening its role in deportations, border externalisation, and the collection and processing of personal data. It is also likely to broaden the agency’s remit beyond border ‘security’ and control to include responding to so-called “hybrid threats”, while further expanding its Standing Corps and doubling its budget. These developments are particularly concerning given Frontex’s increasingly central role in the EU’s violent, human rights-violating border regime.

Mandate review

Frontex began operating in 2005 as a small agency tasked with coordinating border ‘security’ and control at the EU’s external borders. Since 2015 in particular, its role, mandate, organisation and budget have expanded rapidly. The agency has started building up its own armed border guard corps, acquired its own surveillance equipment, taken on a more active role in deportations, and launched operations in non-EU countries. The last revision of the Frontex mandate, in

2019

, significantly increased the agency’s powers.

In July 2024, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented her

Political Guidelines 2024–2029

, outlining the programme for the new Commission. She announced plans to “strengthen Frontex, notably to equip it with state-of-the-art technology for surveillance and situational awareness, along with its own equipment and personnel to ensure it can protect our borders in all circumstances”. She also proposed tripling the size of the Standing Corps to 30,000 border guards. These plans were reiterated in the EU’s

Internal Security Strategy

(April 2025) and

Asylum and Migration Management Strategy

(January 2026), both of which also emphasise expanding Frontex’s operational role in deportations.

In summer 2025 the Commission launched a

public consultation

on updating the Frontex Regulation, with the aim of presenting a legislative proposal in the third quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, the Commission’s proposal for the next EU-budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034,

includes

€11.9 billion to Frontex – doubling the agency’s budget under the current 2021–2027 MFF.

Proposed changes

Although the content of the Commission’s proposal is not yet known, it has indicated that it intends to

address

several key areas, including:

Expansion of its workforce and equipment pool

Frontex is currently building its own 10,000-strong armed

Standing Border Guard Corps

, which is deployed in Frontex operations both inside and outside the EU and assists member states with border control, border surveillance and deportations. As noted above, the Commission has proposed increasing the corps to 30,000 personnel.

Initially dependent on equipment provided by member states, Frontex has been able to purchase or lease its own equipment since 2011. Following budget increases from 2017 onwards, it has signed several major contracts, particularly for aerial surveillance, although debates over its procurement strategy have delayed many plans. The Commission now intends to further expand Frontex’s own equipment pool, especially its surveillance capabilities.

Frontex’s expansion of surveillance across EU external borders and beyond has largely

served

the detection, apprehension and often subsequent pushback of people on the move. Rarely has such equipment served search and rescue.

A larger role in deportations, inside and outside the EU

Frontex’s involvement in deportations has evolved from coordinating joint return flights at the request of groups of member states to taking a far more active operational

role

, including initiating deportations itself. In 2025, it assisted in the deportation of more than 60,000 people. Under the EU’s new

Deportation Regulation

, adopted in June 2026, Frontex’s responsibilities will be

expanded