Frontex - Just a Front.

Yesterday’s post on the tragedy about to hit Malta got our Sitemaster thinking. Just what is FRONTEX and what is it’s mandate? What does it do and how does it do it? Well, the answer is not much and not very well. That may not be FRONTEX’ fault though. Let us begin this sorry tale by seeing what the EU has to say regarding the impending invasion of Malta G.C. by thousands of African illegals:

29/03/2007

Summer is soon upon us. Unfortunately, in the Mediterranean, it is not only the season for sun, sand and sea but also for the resumption of human trafficking into Europe, with the tragic consequences such trading usually brings. Over the past years, the Mediteranean has been experiencing an increasing number of crossings from the northern shores of Africa with Malta being right on the route. Uncounted numbers die every year.

This year, with Frontex operational and properly funded, a lot is being expected. The Maltese Government has proposed a joint patrol with Greece patrolling the southern borders of Europe. Nautilus II as it is being referrred is a continuation of a successful patrolling exercise carried out last year. Frontex is currently evaluating this and if it happens, Malta willl be able to access EU funding for this operation. Commissioner Frattini has gone on record a number of times asking all Member States to help out. Everybody has to prepare now to mitigate as much as possible the effects of this sad story.

(Link.)

Notice please, the article above, directly from the pages of the EU website, states clearly that Frontex is operational and fully funded. Which means that it should have 21 airplanes, 27 helicopters and 116 boats and the crews and manning it needs to be thoroughly effective in turning back the flood of would-be illegal immigrants streaming relentlessly toward Europe. Hooray. We can all rest secure in the knowledge that the EU is protecting our borders.
So just what does this fully functional and well funded FRONTEX do? What is its purpose? This from their own website describes the mission and method:

European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX)

The European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union was established by Council Regulation (EC) 2007/2004/ (26.10.2004, OJ L 349/25.11.2004).

FRONTEX coordinates operational cooperation between Member States in the field of management of external borders; assists Member States in the training of national border guards, including the establishment of common training standards; carries out risk analyses; follows up the development of research relevant for the control and surveillance of external borders; assists Member States in circumstances requiring increased technical and operational assistance at external borders; and provides Member States with the necessary support in organising joint return operations.
photo

FRONTEX liaises closely with other Community and EU partners responsible for the security of the external borders, such as EUROPOL, CEPOL, OLAF, the customs cooperation and the cooperation on phyto-sanitary and veterinary controls, in order to promote overall coherency.

FRONTEX strengthens border security by ensuring the coordination of Member States’ actions in the implementation of Community measures relating to the management of the external borders.

Last update: 01 June 2007

(Link.)

Which all sounds very good and proper and correct. But nowhere does the EU Council regulation state that FRONTEX can return illegals, or indeed stop them, or refuse them entry to European waters. Nor does it demand that they do so. So what´s the point? Indeed, many others are questioning the idea too. Not least of all, the member nations of the EU who are supposed to fund and supply FRONTEX.
The Executive Director of FRONTEX is Ilkka Laitinen, one-time colonel, presumably of the Finnish Army. He has this to say regarding the organisation he is commanding:

11-06-2007
Frontex - facts and myths
Ilkka Laitinen

Having realised there is some misunderstanding in the European press on the role of Frontex, I have decided to clarify its mission on the eve of the adoption of the Regulation on the creation Rapid Border Intervention Teams (Rabits).

Frontex is a young agency with untapped potential which needs proper resourcing. Rabits are a very good instrument for providing support for a limited period of time in exceptional and urgent situations, the Regulation says, I would also add unforeseeable. The Regulation also says Rapid Border Intervention Teams are not intended to provide long-term assistance. The Member States have created this solution and will adopt it in the coming days.

At the same time one can hear voices from Member States inviting Frontex to use Rabits immediately for stopping the flow of illegal migrants from Africa. These voices would also like Frontex to deploy as much equipment as possible to the region. Why? Because Frontex has 21 airplanes, 27 helicopters and 116 boats. That’s the fact I cannot deny, we have them… on paper.

The Centralised Record of Available Technical Equipment (CRATE) is only a record that will help us in better planning Frontex operations. CRATE is like an e-shop, you can watch it on your screen and decide what you need, then order it and pay for it. Frontex doesn’t have any vessels itself and cannot afford deployment of a big number of units to a chosen region. These assets belong to the Member States and they are subject to their will to deploy them. And as for the financial point of view, if we deployed the equipment from CRATE at once the budget of Frontex would evaporate in two weeks’ time.

In the Regulation that will be adopted tomorrow Member States repeat the sentence that was already present in the Frontex Regulation: “Responsibility for the control of the external borders lies with the Member States”. It seems that the will of Member States is crystal clear. In the Regulation establishing Frontex Member States stated that the need for creating an integrated management of operational cooperation at the external borders of the EU cannot be sufficiently satisfied by the Member States and can be better approached at Community level by Frontex.

Therefore, Frontex started the implementation of integrated border management fulfilling the duty given to it by the Member States. Last week I learned reading the press that Member States don’t want Frontex to fulfil its tasks; Member States want Frontex to become a search and rescue body. Legal advisors could have some problems in explaining why a Community agency should take action in an area that is out of the mandate not only of the agency but also the European Union.

The raison d’être of Frontex are not emergency operations but the consistent introduction of well planned regular patrols by Member States, in order to limit urgent missions and to integrate the management of borders in all its dimensions defined by the Member States. Doctors say that the best intensive care unit cannot replace prophylaxis; I would say that it applies also to borders.

Frontex is not and never will be a panacea to problems of illegal migration. The agency with personnel of 82 people and a budget of € 35m cannot take over the duty of hundreds of thousands of border guards in the European Union. Maybe our activities in the Mediterranean do not seem sufficient for some people but we have to act in accordance with the legal mandate we have, and in the fixed financial frames we have, not to mention the human resources and the willingness of the Member States to act together.

Summing up I would like to remind that Frontex activities are supplementary to those undertaken by the Member States. Frontex doesn’t have any monopole on border protection and is not omnipotent. It is a coordinator of the operational cooperation in which the Member States show their volition. If some of our critics think it is not enough they should fix their eyes on decision takers, as Frontex only executes its duties described in the Regulation 2007/2004.

(Link.)

“21 airplanes, 27 helicopters and 116 boats. That’s the fact I cannot deny, we have them… on paper.”

Which must be both embarassing and frustrating for Laitinen. Pitiful is a word that springs to mind. With this condemnation of the member states, and thereby the EU and all it’s commissions, Laitinen puts the whole thing into a perspective that we find, frankly, worrying. To learn that “Member States want Frontex to become a search and rescue body”, is absolutely unacceptable.

We need a border defense that ensures our sovereignty and defends us against illegal immigration and subversive invasion. Frontex should be set up as a deterrent, not a search and rescue mission. It should have one task and one alone. To repel the illegal immigrants to the point of escorting them back to where they came from at gunpoint. Not escorting them to the European shores of Malta or Lampedusa. Laitinen gives us a picture, not of a fully operational border defense, but an underfunded, underequipped and undermanned lifeboat service. This is not a deterrent at all. It is a welcoming gesture of safe passage to the EU. How is that “securing our borders”?

And don’t forget, this is all paid for with your tax money.

(Should one feel obliged in any way to contact FRONTEX, here are all the contact details we could find. One could, perhaps, express a little sympathy for Mr. Laitinen.)

Executive Director:
Ilkka Laitinen

Address:
Rondo ONZ 1
00 124 Warsaw
Poland

Tel. +48 22 544 95 00
Fax +48 22 544 95 01

Email:
frontex@frontex.europa.eu

Internet:
http://www.frontex.europa.eu/