The European Commission has proposed expanding Frontex, the European Union's joint border police force, to a standing corps of 30,000 officers, Commissioners Henna Virkunnen and Magnus Brunner said on Tuesday 27 October 2026. The proposal also includes a reaction force able to deploy at short notice in an emergency.

A new reserve and a wider returns role

A new European border and return reserve of 17,000 officers would remain at the disposal of member states and be deployed when needed. A new EU Return Coordination Centre within Frontex would cover the whole deportation process, from voluntary return counselling through organising returns to reintegration support, and a new online monitoring centre would track border-related developments on social media. The plan also extends the agency's role to transfers of migrants between non-EU countries.

Proposal, not yet agreed law

Readers should keep the status clear: this is a Commission proposal announced on 27 October, not a change that takes effect on announcement, and the reports checked do not set out a timetable for adoption. It has already drawn criticism: Dutch MEP Tineke Strik, of the Greens/EFA group, was reported as saying the Commission was pandering to populism and the far right on migration and warning against turning Frontex into a European version of ICE, the US immigration enforcement agency.

Sources: Reuters via Northland News Radio; Commission statement detail via Devdiscourse.