Border management: Frontex agreement with Serbia enters into force

Tomorrow, the Status Agreement on border management cooperation between the European Union and Serbia will enter into force. The agreement will allow the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to carry out joint operations in Serbia, especially in the event of sudden border management challenges. Frontex will be able to deploy teams of border guards and other experts at the borders between Serbia and the neighbouring EU Member States if required. Frontex will lend both technical and operational support, assisting Serbian border guards in performing checks at crossing points and preventing unauthorised border crossings. All operations and deployments at the common borders will be conducted in full agreement with and under the instructions of Serbian authorities, with safeguards in place to ensure full respect of fundamental rights by both sides during these operations. Similar agreements have been initiated with the Republic of North Macedonia (July 2018) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (February 2019), and Frontex also operates under respective agreements in force in Albania and Montenegro in the common interest of both the European Union and its neighbours in the region.