Englund

Hardened over the past two years, after more than 1mn people applied for asylum in the EU in 2023. That was the highest figure since 2015-2016, when some 2.3mn people applied. The EU is also hosting some 4.3mn Ukrainians, who received temporary protection status  As more right-wing governments have come into power in countries like Germany and Luxembourg — previously vocal defenders of migrant rights — member states have called for additional measures to curb immigration, including outsourcing the control of their borders to third countries. Financial Times 6 January 2026 https://www.ft.com/content/0bc942f9-8d8f-4ec4-9e48-aebe7e5a4412 EU Border Agency Frontex Headquarter in Warsaw Frontex https://www.frontex.europa.eu/ European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) https://european-union.europa.eu/institutions-law-budget/institutions-and-bodies/search-all-eu-institutions-and-bodies/european-union-agency-asylum-euaa_en

Frontex is an important milestone in the bloc’s efforts to create functioning institutions that can implement its security and foreign policy objectives. The US, some European officials like to point out, had a coastguard before it had its own navy. Critics, by contrast, see Frontex as the spearhead of a militaristic “Fortress Europe” strategy The camera lingers first on the EU’s circle of stars insignia and then shifts to a close-up of the officer’s side cap, styled similarly to those used in the US military and French police. The man salutes in front of a logo for the armed force he represents: the Frontex European Border and Coast Guard. FT 20 January 2021 https://www.ft.com/content/32d464ad-1efb-4b6b-ad43-427d05e01852 https://twitter.com/Frontex Europeiska byrån för förvaltningen av det operativa samarbetet  vid Europeiska unionens yttre gränser (FRONTEX) http://www.nejtillemu.com/frontex.htm

The proposal is to see member states’ border guard corps pooled under the command of a new, EU-level agency.  The bloc’s existing border control agency, the Warsaw-based Frontex, where Avramopoulos spoke, is to give intelligence-gathering and logistical support. The project is to be discussed by home affairs ministers and by EU leaders in Brussels in June. euobserver 21 maj 2015 http://www.nejtillemu.com/frontex.htm