Despite what Frontex (hereafter also referred to as the Agency) deems “budgetary restrictions”, the agency’s €86 million budget remains one of the biggest of EU’s Justice and Home Affairs agencies, roughly equivalent to Europol’s. 2 Frontex’s priorities in 2013 will not differ much from 2012 with operational activity still the priority. Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen told the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee on 7 March that operational expenses would account for 77% of the budget.
The Agency’s capacities will continue to be geared towards sea borders operations, border surveillance and the prospect of further cooperation with third countries and Eurojust. Narratives on “non-genuine” asylum-seekers and the risks inherent to visa liberalisation also crop up in the new work programme. Despite the Agency’s new decision-making capacities and increased potential to launch operations in the EU and beyond, it is striking that the new Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights is only mentioned once in the work programme.
Read the analysis in full here
Read the CF's Work Plan for 2013 here
