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The European Union has dramatically expanded its migration management operations throughout the Western Balkans, deploying tons of of border officers and funding deportation applications throughout the area, in line with a newly public European Fee progress report obtained by Statewatch.
The report, offered on the MOCADEM roundtable in June 2025, particulars a pointy escalation of EU-led deportation, surveillance, and migration administration measures all through Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and neighboring nations, underscoring the rising affect of Frontex and different EU companies in regional border management.
Frontex Deployment Reaches 500 Officers
The Fee report reveals that roughly 500 Frontex Standing Corps officers are at the moment deployed throughout Western Balkan nations beneath standing agreements and dealing preparations, a big operational presence in a area that’s not a part of the European Union.
In a significant improvement, Frontex and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s border police finalized an operational plan in August 2025, marking a brand new section of joint EU-BiH border operations. This enlargement represents the most recent step in deepening cooperation between EU enforcement companies and Balkan authorities.
Deportation Packages Increase
The report highlights growing efforts to deport migrants from the area again to their nations of origin. Bosnia and Herzegovina has begun conducting deportations to Turkey and Pakistan, with a brand new return settlement at the moment beneath negotiation with Bangladesh.
A €500,000 pilot venture on pressured returns, initially launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has now been prolonged to Serbia. The venture is funded by way of the EU’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), which continues to increase deportation capability throughout Western Balkan states.
Frontex has organized workshops and coaching periods with EU Member States particularly targeted on deportations to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Algeria, and different nations, suggesting a coordinated method to eradicating migrants from the area.
On-line Campaigns Goal Migration Conduct
Past enforcement operations, the EU is investing in applications designed to affect migration choices earlier than folks attain Europe. A €1.4 million venture known as “Pathways EMR–WBR,” carried out by Seefar in partnership with Meta (Fb’s mother or father firm), targets audiences in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey by way of on-line messaging campaigns geared toward “altering irregular migration habits.”
In parallel, a Dutch-funded venture managed by the Worldwide Centre for Migration Coverage Growth (ICMPD) value €1 million (2024–2025) additionally goals to “step up” deportations from the area.
Push for Detention Infrastructure
Western Balkan governments are being inspired to increase reception and detention infrastructure. The Fee report states that the EU “ought to additional insist” on establishing “multi-purpose centres, reception and if wanted detention amenities, particularly at entry factors.”
The report additionally requires strengthening “safety in and round reception centres, particularly in BiH, to stop doable secondary actions or migrant smuggling” language that means concern about migrants persevering with their journeys towards EU territory.
IOM Controls “Voluntary” Returns
Assisted voluntary returns (AVRR) proceed beneath an Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM)-managed regional program, which has supported 3,376 returns between 2016 and Might 2025. Notably, the report signifies that not one of the Western Balkan governments at the moment function their very own return buildings, leaving IOM in full management of those processes.
Critics have questioned the “voluntary” nature of those returns, significantly when carried out in contexts the place migrants face restricted choices and growing enforcement strain.
Rights Teams Increase Considerations
“By way of our work within the area, we proceed to see the downstream impact of the EU’s coverage choices on the bottom within the Western Balkans,” stated Anas Ambri, Communications Coordinator of the Border Violence Monitoring Community.
“The EC’s concentrate on so-called voluntary returns appears to be the most recent iteration of Brussels’ externalisation coverage within the Western Balkans. And, identical to earlier insurance policies, it’s being deployed on the expense of individuals on the transfer and their rights.”
Deepening Institutional Cooperation
Cooperation between EU companies and regional authorities continues to accentuate. The Europol Job Drive on the Western Balkans met in October 2024 to debate establishing a brand new Operational Job Drive targeted on Afghan felony networks.
In the meantime, Frontex has stepped up coaching applications for return escort officers and carried out a niche evaluation of nationwide return techniques to establish areas the place deportation capability might be additional expanded.
Backside Line
The Fee’s progress report reveals a scientific enlargement of EU migration management structure into the Western Balkans, a area that is still exterior the European Union however more and more capabilities as an extension of its border enforcement equipment.
With 500 Frontex officers deployed, tens of millions in EU funding directed towards deportations and habits modification campaigns, and Western Balkan governments beneath strain to construct detention amenities, the report illustrates how the EU is successfully outsourcing border management to non-member states, elevating questions on accountability, authorized protections, and the rights of migrants caught on this increasing enforcement community.
Because the Border Violence Monitoring Community and different organizations have documented, the human value of those insurance policies continues to mount, with folks on the transfer going through pushbacks, violence, and diminishing authorized protections because the EU’s migration management footprint expands ever additional past its personal borders.
