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Documents: EU plans to radically expand border agency's mandate

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01 December 2025

Two recent European Council documents reveal internal discussions over the potential expansion of Europe's border agency Frontex. One aim is to make it easier for the agency to operate outside EU borders. The discussions come ahead of the expected formal revision of Frontex’s mandate in 2026 and give a glimpse of what member states and the European Commission have in mind for the agency’s role in the EU’s future deportation machine.

Image: Frontex

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Two notes from the Danish presidency of the Council of the European Union, obtained and published by Statewatch, reveal discussions underway to radically expand the mandate of Frontex, giving it the power to conduct deportations from one country to another, and fighting against so-called 'hybrid threats' against the EU.

The future of Frontex: expanding global powers

The first Presidency note (pdf) to the Working Party on Frontiers on 30 October 2025, invites member state delegations to discuss:

• whether it should be made easier for Frontex to engage with and operate in non-EU states;
• how Frontex could be deployed to conduct deportations from one third country to another;
• what role Frontex should play in the overall return hubs system.

The note begins by laying out Frontex’s current engagements with non-EU states, from extensive deployment in the Balkans to other regions where Frontex has “limited visibility and operational footprint”. Senegal and Mauritania are cited as two examples of countries with which the Commission has been unable to secure formal Frontex status agreements.

The Presidency notes “widespread support” from member states for loosening the rules to allow for more informal Frontex deployments (pre-departure checks at third country airports or other crossing points, for instance).

Going further, the note discusses how rules may be loosened to allow Frontex return teams to be deployed in non-EU states, observing that “Member States agree” this should be allowed. The Presidency invites delegations to discuss how this could work in practice.

Giving Frontex the power to conduct deportations from one non-EU state to another was proposed during the last revision of its mandate, resulting in the 2019 Regulation. However, the plans were rejected by the Parliament and did not make it into the final rules.

Finally, with ‘return hubs’ (deportation camps) expected to be established in non-EU states, the Presidency invites delegations to discuss whether Frontex:

…should be able to assist Member States that enter into agreements with third countries on return hubs for persons with illegal stay in the EU.

The note concludes by asking delegations: what the main obstacles are to the above suggestions; how they envision looser Frontex working arrangements with third countries; whether the Frontex Regulation should be amended; and whether member states support Frontex taking part in deportations from one third country to another as well as assisting member states in deporting people to return hubs.

The future of Frontex: combating 'hybrid threats'

The second note (pdf) from the Presidency to the same committee explores whether and how Frontex’s mandate should be expanded in the context of “hybrid threats”.

Describing such threats as a “key challenge at the external borders” of the EU, the note first outlines provisional definitions of “hybrid threats” and then focusses on the “instrumentalisation/weaponisation” of migration as an example.

The Presidency note refers to suggestions from unnamed member states that Frontex’s role and mandate should be expanded to counter hybrid threats. This could take advantage of, for instance, its aerial surveillance capabilities.

Framing instrumentalisation as an issue of EU security, the note runs through the various laws in place or in the works to allow states to restrict or suspend border procedures at times of alleged instrumentalisation (including the ‘Crisis and Force Majeure’ regulation and amendments to the Schengen Borders Code).

(Hybrid threats have also recently been added to forthcoming legislation updating grounds for triggering the suspension of visa-free arrangements with third countries.)

The Presidency then invites delegates to discuss:

…if and how the mandate of Frontex… needs to be amended to ensure that Frontex can effectively support Member States faced with instrumentalisation and possibly other hybrid threats, such as recent airspace violations by drones and other flying objects used for smuggling.

The Presidency suggests a few ways to do this, for instance updating provisions of the Frontex Regulation around rapid border interventions, hotspot areas and migration management support teams. It also suggests amendments to the European Integrated Border Management (EIBM) framework.

The note concludes by asking delegations several questions, including: how hybrid threats should be defined; whether and how the Frontex Regulation should be amended; whether the EIBM framework needs to be updated, and; whether a potential Frontex mandate expansion should focus on “hybrid threats beyond the instrumentalisation of migrants”.

Documentation:

• The future of Frontex: hybrid threats: Presidency note to delegates (Council doc. 14395/25, LIMITE, 30 October 2025, pdf)
• The future of Frontex: engagement with third countries: Presidency note to delegates (Council doc. 14393/25, LIMITE, 30 October 2025, pdf)

Further reading