Zebrafish Int. and Frontex agreed on a contract which shall help Frontex to establish a process for strategic decision making. The process shall support Frontex to spot areas of risk in important decision making in complex situations. These include the drawing of boundaries for decision, eliminating distorting attachments, and misleading judgments via putting an appropriate safeguard against biases in place.

Background Information

Frontex started to be fully operational on 3 October 2005 with its seat in Warsaw, Poland. Frontex staff consists of 272 seconded national experts, temporary, auxiliary and contract staff.

Responsibility for the control of external borders of the Member States of the European Union lies with the Member States. Frontex strengthens border security by ensuring the coordination of Member States’ actions in the implementation of Community measures relating to the management of the external borders.

Frontex liaises closely with other Community and EU partners responsible for the security of the external borders, such as Europol, CEPOL, EMSA, the customs cooperation and the cooperation on phyto-sanitary and veterinary controls, in order to promote overall coherency. Frontex actively promotes cooperation with other border related law enforcement bodies responsible for internal security at EU level.

The activities of Frontex are intelligence driven. Frontex complements and provides particular added value to the national border management systems of the Member States and to the freedom and security of their citizens.

Frontex is a key player in the implementation of common EU policy for Integrated Border Management and it actively promotes the gradual development and the effective functioning of the EU Integrated Border Management System.

Frontex is a community body having legal personality and operational and budgetary autonomy. Strategic guidelines for Frontex are being defined by its Management Board, which consists of operational heads of national services responsible for border guard management or their representatives as well as representatives of the Commission. This Board is entrusted with the necessary powers to establish the budget, verify its execution, adopt the appropriate financial rules, establish transparent working procedures for decision making by the Agency and appoint the Executive Director and his/her Deputy. Frontex is headed by the Executive Director.

Frontex tasks:

Coordination of operational cooperation between Member States in the field of management of external borders;

Assistance to Member States in the training of national border guards, including the establishment of common training standards;

Carrying out risk analyses;

Following up the development of research relevant for the control and surveillance of external borders;

Assistance to Member States in circumstances requiring increased technical and operational assistance at external borders;

Providing Member States with the necessary support in organising joint return operations.
Frontex concepts
The activities of Frontex are based on the EU policy for integrated border management. The Integrated Border Security Model is a system covering all aspects of border policy. The system is spread over four complementary tiers which include operational measures in and with third countries; operational border security cooperation with neighbouring third countries; border checks and border surveillance at the external borders and border security related measures within the Member States.

One of the key elements of the EU strategy to secure external borders was the creation of the body, i.e. Frontex , that can coordinate and enhance border security by ensuring the coordination of Member States' actions in the implementation of Community measures relating to the management of the external borders. However, responsibility for the control of external borders of the Member States of the European Union still lies with the Member States.