Fighting Crime / External Border Agency

It is estimated that there are some 8 million illegal immigrants in the EU, entering at some 1,636 known crossing points.

Between 2006 and 2007, more than 53,000 people were stopped or prevented from entering the EU area at external borders. More than 2,900 fake or falsified travel documents were discovered and 58 smugglers of illegal immigrants were arrested.

FRONTEX forms a key element in the strategy for securing the external borders of the EU.

Based in Warsaw, it helps train border guards, exchanges intelligence between countries, analyses threats of illegal immigration and helps arrange the return of illegal immigrants. FRONTEX works in conjunction with local police authorities and Customs and Excise.

In 2009, FRONTEX set itself these four long-term objectives for the future:

  • Knowledge- analytical capacity
  • Response- operational capacity and reaction capacity
  • Interoperability
  • Performance- managerial capacity

These objectives form FRONTEX’s working basis for its first multi-annual plan for the period 2010-2013.