In order to ensure the highest quality of our services, we use small files called cookies. When using our website, the cookie files are downloaded onto your device. You can change the settings of your browser at any time. In addition, your use of our website is tantamount to your consent to the processing of your personal data provided by electronic means.

Back

EU agencies in home affairs

FRONTEX: European Border and Coast Guard Agency

In its current form, the Agency was established in 2016 from the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union. On 13 November, a new Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency was adopted, repealing the 2016 Regulation and further extending the mandate and operational capacity of Frontex and obliging it to establish, in cooperation with the Member States, so-called standing corps of 10,000 officers. The standing corps will provide field support to Member States in their efforts for external border surveillance.

The main tasks of the Agency are to supervise the effective functioning of border control at the external borders; to carry out risk analyses and vulnerability assessments, to provide Member States and third countries with increased technical and operational assistance through joint operations and rapid border interventions, to ensure the practical implementation of measures in a situation requiring urgent action at the external borders, to provide technical and operational assistance in an effort to support search and rescue operations for persons in distress at sea, and to organise, coordinate and conduct return operations and return interventions. Currently, the Agency also carries out operations in countries outside the EU, with their consent.

Frontex is the only EU agency with its offices in Warsaw, Poland.

Agency website.

EASO: European Asylum Support Office

The task of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) is to strengthen practical cooperation in the EU Member States on asylum-related matters, support EU countries whose asylum systems are under particular pressure and to improve the implementation of the Common European Asylum System.

In practice, EASO is responsible for facilitating information exchange as well as identifying and collecting the best practices in the field. In particular, EASO is responsible for activities related to gathering information about the country of origin of asylum seekers as well as for preparing analyses and reports on these countries. In addition, EASO supports relocation within the EU of beneficiaries of international protection, provides support in terms of training of officials from EU Members States involved in asylum procedures as well as support for the practical implementation of asylum in external affairs.

As part of support for Member States under particular pressure, EASO has the ability to establish so-called asylum support teams, that is groups of experts from various Member States who, for a limited time, are delegated by EASO to the Member State in a difficult migration situation. These teams provide technical assistance, e.g. interpreter services, information on countries of origin and expertise on how to handle and process asylum cases.  

On 4 May 2016, the EC submitted a first package of draft legal acts reforming the CEAS, including a legislative proposal to establish the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA). The main objective of the project was to strengthen the mandate of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and transform it into the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA). The negotiations on this legal act are yet to be concluded. The proposal to create a new asylum agency will be part of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

EASO is headquartered in La Valetta, Malta.

Agency website.

EUROPOL:  The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation shall support and strengthen the activities and mutual cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States in preventing and combating serious crime, affecting two or more Member States, terrorism and forms of crime affecting a common interest covered by a Union policy.

The Agency supports the competent law enforcement authorities e.g. by facilitating information exchange (including personal data), assisting in investigations and providing expertise and technical support. Europol performs its tasks, in particular, by drawing up and sharing threat assessments, strategic analyses and general situation reports relating to its objectives, including threat assessments on organised crime. 

Europol is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Agency website.

CEPOL: European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training

The activities of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training focus on providing assistance in training MS law enforcement authorities in order to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement authorities in preventing and combating crime. CEPOL shall support Member States in carrying out training activities in order to raise awareness and promote knowledge on such issues as the implementation of international and EU instruments concerning law-enforcement cooperation, Union bodies as well as police and judicial aspects of law-enforcement.

Every year, the Agency organises courses, training, seminars and conferences (also online) for law enforcement officers that focus, in particular, on the most severe threats of organised crime in the European Union. CEPOL also prepares multi-annual analyses of strategic training needs and multi-annual training programmes.

CEPOL is headquartered in Budapest, Hungary.

Agency website.

European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA)

The European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice was established to manage integrated IT systems that help maintain internal security in the EU, including the Schengen Information System (SIS), Visa Information System (VIS) and Eurodac. The Agency is responsible for the preparation, development and operational management of the Entry/Exit System (EES), ECRIS-TCN and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).

eu-LISA provides technological support for the EU countries’ efforts to make Europe safer. Its activity is based on respecting the citizens’ fundamental rights and ensuring compliance with the most restrictive standards on security and data protection. The Agency became operational in December 2012.

eu-LISA is based in Tallinn, Estonia (headquarters) and Strasbourg, France.

Agency website.

FRA: Agency for Fundamental Rights

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) was launched on 1 March 2007 and was established on the basis of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
The main focus of FRA is to provide EU institutions and Members States with assistance and expertise on fundamental rights in their efforts to implement EU law.

FRA’s activities, apart from combating racism and xenophobia, are organised around the following tasks:

  • gathering and analysing objective, reliable and comparable data on fundamental rights, e.g., by using reports drawn up by Member States, EU institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at national and international level;
  • publication of annual reports on fundamental rights, with particular emphasis on good practices;
  • building a cooperation network of various entities responsible for fundamental rights protection comprising government administration bodies, national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), social partners and research centres;
  • developing communication strategies to raise awareness and drawing up educational materials.

FRA is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

Agency website.

{"register":{"columns":[]}}