Matthias Monroy

Frontex is planning to set up a “Quick Reaction Force”. It is intended to operate beyond direct border protection and could be deployed against the will of a member state.

The EU border agency Frontex is preparing to establish a new intervention force. As revealed in the answer to a parliamentary question by left-wing MEP Özlem Demirel, this “Quick Reaction Force” (QRF) is intended to be deployed “if a significant number of resources must be relocated quickly from one operational area to another”. Further areas of operation for this robust force are “foreseen events of international scale, such as sports competitions, UN conferences, etc.” Frontex explains that such events “significantly impact traffic and operational needs at the external borders for a short period of time”.

The force is intended to represent an intermediate solution between regular Frontex missions, mostly planned one year in advance, and the launch of a “Rapid Border Intervention”, as occurred for the first time in Greece in 2020. At that time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had brought thousands of refugees from Syria to the Greek border and encouraged them to cross. In response, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dispatched an armed Frontex unit composed of teams from individual member states to the Evros region. The officers were equipped for “crowd control”, including helmets with neck protection, body armour and shields.

The QRF is part of the “Standing Corps” under the direct command of Frontex and is to be organised in two parts – firstly as a European Quick Reaction Force (E-QRF) with permanently stationed personnel and equipment in one or more member states. In addition, there is a Contingent QRF (C-QRF), consisting of up to 15 percent of the officers already stationed in the various operational areas, which can be deployed at short notice. Frontex does not provide more precise figures.

According to the EU Commission, Frontex had 6,757 officers in the “Standing Corps” at the end of March 2025. Their number is expected to reach 10,000 by 2027. Following a decision by Commission President von der Leyen, the force is to be expanded to up to 30,000 operational staff. Several thousand could then be assigned to the new QRF. Where they will be stationed and possibly barracked is currently still unclear. Frontex is conducting negotiations with member states on this matter. There is not much time left: Frontex states the first quarter of 2026 as the date for the launch of the European component of its “Quick Reaction Force”.

With the QRF, the agency aims to create a “supplementary response capability” when “the Contingent has exhausted its own capabilities and is no longer able to address the needs with its own resources”. As a host country, member states can request additional resources from Frontex for specific problem situations.

However, the EU intervention force can also be activated “when the situation at the external borders requires urgent action”. This has been stipulated as a “right to intervene” in Article 42 of the amended Frontex Regulation since 2019: If a member state ignores recommendations from the Frontex Director and the subsequent decisions of the Management Board to remedy identified deficiencies in border management, the other Union members can decide on mandatory measures which that state must implement. Subsequently, the affected member state must cooperate with Frontex – for instance, by tolerating the presence of the “Standing Corps” including the intervention force.

With the growth of the “Standing Corps”, Frontex is also decentralising the command structures for the force. To this end, nine regional centres are being established, enabling for the first time operational leadership outside the headquarters in Warsaw. Two of these centres have already been set up in Prague and Tallinn and are intended to take over personnel planning, operational authorisations and leadership of the Standing Corps in their respective regions.

Özlem Demirel fears that the new “Quick Reaction Force” could also be deployed at large demonstrations against international summits – which are already met with completely oversized and often unrestrained police operations. “There is no question that people have a need for security, but this new operational force brings precisely the opposite,” the Left politician told “nd”. There is already strong criticism regarding the lack of transparency and control of Frontex. This deficiency at the EU’s external borders is being “perpetuated internally” with the deployment plans for the QRF, Demirel said.

Published in German in ‘nd’.

Image: In 2020, Frontex was deployed at the Greek-Turkish border with ‘crowd control’ equipment for the first time, including helmets with neck protection, body armour and shields (Press Office of the Hellenic Republic).