New Bosnia border commission to pave way for Frontex’s deployment
Baku, January 23, AZERTAC
The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is due shortly to vote for the new State Commission for the Border, in charge of integrated border management, which should, among other things, create conditions for the deployment of the EU’s border agency Frontex on its borders, according to BalkanInsight.
The Commision has a mandate to follow the country’s Border Management Strategy and Action Plan, which among other things, express the need for Frontex to assist in safeguarding borders in Bosnia.
Bosnia’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, which proposed the creation of the commission, stated in the proposal that the “smuggling of people, as a manifestation of crime, can be closely linked to illegal migrations to which Bosnia and Herzegovina is exposed, especially during times of the migrant crisis”.
“Cooperation with relevant international EU agencies, such as Interpol, Europol/Empact, Frontex, as well as bilateral collaboration with countries in the region and EU member states, is of crucial importance,” it added.
The decision on the formation of the Commission should be made on Monday or Tuesday.
Since the migrant crisis hit Bosnia in 2017, some 145,000 refugees and migrants have entered the country on their way westwards, with the biggest number, almost 32,000, registered in 2023. But only 1,791 border police officers are currently employed in securing Bosnia’s borders, 635 fewer than the number required under a 2005 border safety assessment.
Since 2019, when Frontex launched its first operation in a non-EU country, around 500 officers have been deployed in the Balkan region. There are joint operations on the EU’s external borders with Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia, as well as via the previous agreement with Montenegro, which came into force in July 2020.
However, Frontex’s involvement in the Balkans has encountered criticism.
In November 2022, plans to conduct mass surveillance on Europe’s borders were frozen after a cross-border investigation published by BIRN and a critical review of the programme by EDPS, the EU’s data protection watchdog. The agency was forced to admit irregularities and commit to rewriting the programme in compliance with EU data protection laws.
Frontex’s director, Fabrice Leggeri, resigned over a human rights scandal sparked by a joint investigation published in April 2022 by Lighthouse Reports, Der Spiegel, SRF Rundschau, Republik and Le Monde. The investigation revealed the involvement of Frontex in illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers from Greece to Turkey between March 2020 and September 2021. The involvement was later confirmed by EU’s anti-corruption watchdog OLAF.
Frontex currently has 2,500 EU border guard officers and other staff taking part in its joint operations at Europe’s borders.
During 2023, a new Frontex mission started in Moldova, and joint operations were launched in North Macedonia. In October, the agency announced that it had carried out border checks at a border outside the European Union for the first time, on the border between Moldova and Ukraine. During the year, it launched several pilot projects in Southeastern Europe.
Other news in this section
