Beyond EU borders

Frontex continues to strengthen its cooperation with non-EU countries through targeted technical assistance projects, using various Commission funding instruments. The agency strives to ensure that its technical assistance action complement EU’s overall external relations policies. While each project focuses on a different priority region and topics, all project activities address specific needs of the beneficiary countries and support them in building their capacities in the field of border security and management. The technical assistance projects contribute to laying the foundation for strategic cooperation or build up on already established functional relationships between Frontex and the national authorities of relevant countries.

Currently, three EU-funded projects and one grant agreement are being implemented with an overall funding of 31 million euros.

In January 2023, Frontex and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine have signed a grant agreement worth 12 million euros to support Ukrainian border officers in performing their duties.

The grant has two specific objectives:

a) supporting winterisation of the border crossing points in Ukraine, with particular focus on the Western border, thereby ensuring their business continuity; and

b) strengthening border control and border surveillance capacities of SBSGU to prevent and cope with new challenges at the Western border of Ukraine, preparing the Service to host Frontex-led joint operations, inter alia under a future Status Agreement.

The grant covers a list of equipment, such as warm winter uniforms for border guards, electric generators, portable power stations, field kitchens, patrol vehicles, and pumps. With this financing, the equipment will be used for civilian border management purposes at Ukraine’s Western borders with EU Member States and Moldova and in its proximity. This will also prepare the State Border Guard Service to potentially host Frontex joint operations in the future. The grant runs until December 2023.

Beneficiaries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia

Timeframe: 01/01/2022 – 31/12/2025

Project Partners: EUAA, IOM, UNHCR

EU Grant: 5,5 million euros from the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III), managed on behalf of the European Commission by Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations

In the 2022-2025 period, Frontex along with the European Union Agency for Asylum, the International Organisation for Migration, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will implement the European Commission-funded regional programme “EU Regional Support to Protection-Sensitive Migration Management Systems in the Western Balkans – Phase III”. The regional programme will consist of four projects implemented by each of the above-mentioned organisations.

The goals of the regional programme are:

1. Improved standardised and regionally operable statistics and mechanisms for identification, registration, and referral of mixed migration movements;
2. Improved implementation of international protection measures, including for vulnerable persons;
3. Improved management of returns and alternatives to detention;
4. Improved contingency planning and crisis response capacities according to EU best practices, including at regional level.

The project implemented by Frontex in 2022-2025 will have the following goals that aim to benefit the agency’s partners in the Western Balkans region:

• improved mechanisms for identification and registration of mixed migration movements;
• improved management of returns;
• improved contingency planning and crisis response capacities.

Frontex participates in implementation of the regional programme since its inception in 2016. Phase I of the programme lasted from 2016 to 2019, and Phase II from 2019 to 2021.

Beneficiaries:  Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia

Timeframe: 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

EU Grant: 7 million EUR funded by the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) and administered by Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations

The project will strengthen border security in the Western Balkans in line with EU and international standards and will be implemented in such a manner so as to ensure the alignment and integration of each beneficiary into EU tools, practices and mechanisms in the area of border management. This action will at all stages dovetail and support the overall policy engagement of the EU with the IPA III Western Balkans beneficiaries.

The project is focusing its work in three directions:

1. support the Western Balkan (WB) partners to align their border management policies with standards and practices of the European Integrated Border Management (IBM);
2. support the implementation of Status Agreements by increasing operational capacities through provision of training and equipment for border checks, surveillance, and detection of falsified travel documents;
3. support the Western Balkan beneficiaries in the establishment of National Coordination Centres and provide state-of-the-art IT infrastructure for swift and secure information exchange.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Beneficiary countries:  Southern Neighbourhood countries

Timeframe: 12.2018 - 04.2025

EU Grant: 6,5 million euros from the European Neighbourhood Instrument

Find more information about this project in our factsheet EU4BorderSecurity at a glance or in the EU4BorderSecurity project page.

EU4BorderSecurity is a regional project implemented by Frontex and funded by European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, addressing the Southern Neighbourhood in North Africa and the Levant. It is a tool that supports the development in border management to jointly enhance security in the Mediterranean and strengthen our capacities.

The overall aim of the project is to contribute to enhancing border security in the Southern Neighbourhood, by fostering bilateral and regional cooperation, through awareness/capacity building activities and technical exchanges in the Integrated Border Management domain.

Project goals:

• to enhance border security in the Southern Mediterranean region, particularly North Africa and the Levant, by fostering bilateral and regional cooperation;

• to familiarise the participating countries with the mandate and work of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency;

• to build trust, understanding, structured partnerships, and exchange of experiences and practices in the Integrated Border Management domain;

• to enhance the capacity of the participating countries to conduct risk analysis, situation monitoring, as well as tactical border and coast guard operations, thus contributing to the fight against security threats, particularly organised crime and terrorism in the region;

• health and safety at the borders.

Read about Frontex in Arabic.