Romania became a member of the FRONTEX Agency (European Agency for Border Police and Coast Guard), on January 1st, 2007, at the moment of the accession to the European Union.
In order to achieve the operational objectives, the Agency coordinates border control activities in EU Member States and in / with third countries, assists Member States in preparing border guards, carries out risk analyzes, pursues the application of the latest technical solutions based on the research work in the areas of interest for border control and surveillance and gives the Member States enhanced technical and operational assistance in the field of external borders.
The Romanian Border Police realizes the connection with the Frontex Agency through a structure specially set up for this purpose - the National Contact Point, with headquarters at the Border Police General Inspectorate.
The involvement of the Border Police in the Agency's activities consists of the participation with experts / technical equipment in the common operations, the organization of common operations on the territory of our country, the granting of operational assistance for limited periods of time, in the form of border intervention teams, the participation by means of naval mobility within the activities of preventing and combating illegal migration at the external maritime borders of the European Union, participating in the risk analysis at European level with the help of specialists from the specialized structure of the Romanian Border Police, as well as by training the border guards during specially organized sessions / courses.
The contribution of the Romanian Border Police to the FRONTEX missions in 2019. During 11 months of 2019, the Romanian Border Police was involved in 12 joint operations and 4 operational projects (Seconded Team Member - sTM, Multipurpose Maritime Operation - MMO, Staff Exchange - Personnel exchange at land and air borders) with the participation of 195 border guards, experts within various professional profiles and crew members of the means of naval mobility.
At the land border, our institution participated in three joint operations - Flexible Operational Activities 2019 in Bulgaria and the Hellenic Republic, Focal Points Land 2019 in Poland, the Hellenic Republic and Bulgaria and FOA WB 2019 in Albania, with 46 border police experts, portable cameras with thermal vision, special vehicles for canine transport patrol, canine crews, transport and patrol cars. Also, 29 experts from the EU in detecting stolen luxury cars and detecting forgeries in documents were deployed in terrestrial Focal Points (Galați, Albița, Sculeni and Moravița). At the maritime border, the Romanian Border Police participated in five joint operations (Themis 2019 in the Italian Republic, Poseidon 2019 in the Hellenic Republic, Minerva 2019 and Indalo 2019 in the Kingdom of Spain, Focal Points Sea 2019 in the Republic of Cyprus) and an operational project (” MMO 2019 ”), activities coordinated by FRONTEX with Romanian border police experts, out of which 108 crew members and 2 seconded national liaison officers for the two patrol vessels (CPV project P 157).
Thus, in terms of maritime operations, in 11 months of 2019, the Romanian border guards on the Romanian Border Police vessels participated in international missions during which they ensured the surveillance of the external maritime border in the Aegean Sea, respectively they managed to save and transfer to aboard ships over 578 persons (254 men, 181 women and 143 minors), who were in danger, on inflatable boats sailing / drifting at sea.
We recall that the main objective of the joint maritime operation is to provide support to national authorities in the surveillance and control of the maritime borders of the European Union, as well as to search and rescue people in distress at sea at the external border. The operation is a continuation of the previous activities for the management of the illegal migration flows, in which the Romanian Border Police made a significant contribution permanently, both from the point of view of the technical means, as well as from the point of view of the number, professional profiles and professionalism of the seconded experts, the appreciations coming both from the border authorities belonging to the participating Member States and from the Agency.Between 07.05-15.06.2019, the Romanian Border Police participated in the 2019 MMO project (within the Focal Points Sea Operation 2019) organized by the Black Sea Agency. The Coast Guard participated with 11 means of naval mobility. 39 missions (over 1,000 patrolling hours) were carried out, and together with the representatives of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Agency (ANPA), 700 vessels and boats were monitored, 90 actions of police approach and control, as well as control of the fisheries, were carried out.
At the air border, the Romanian Border Police participated with 18 experts in three joint operations (Alexis 2019, Air Focal Points 2019 and Air Coordination Points) and an operational project (Staff Exchange - Regular Officers and Intermediate Managers) at the airports in Munich., Toulouse, Ljubljana, Vilnius, Rome, Vienna, Munich Prague, Venice, Warsaw, Zagreb, Sofia, Porto and Chisinau.
Another important activity carried out in cooperation with the Frontex Agency is the participation in the Management Board of Frontex (Management Board), as well as the participation of the Romanian border guards in the training activities organized by the Agency. In the course of 2019, over 200 Romanian border guards took part in the development, training and effective training activities in specialized fields, organized by the Frontex Agency.
