In line with the announced intentions of the new Portuguese presidency to step up efforts to curb illegal immigration, a review of Frontex's functions and tasks is in the offing, the EU border agency's executive director Ilkka Laitinen told The Sunday Times in an interview last week.
"In the course of the Portuguese presidency something very interesting is going to happen: an evaluation of Frontex's functions and tasks," he said. "The Commission is in charge of carrying out this evaluation. It might happen during the Slovenian presidency, but nevertheless as a result of that there will be an important proposal about our tasks. It can be the case that Frontex would need more financial resources but, if so, we have to have more human resources and the member states have to be more active."
Mr Laitinen was in Malta on Thursday for a demonstration by assets participating in Frontex's Nautilus II mission, and for briefings with the Police and the Armed Forces' top brass. Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini, who was also in Malta on Thursday for the Frontex demonstration, announced that the Frontex patrols would become permanent in the Mediterranean from January.
Mr Laitinen said he was very pleased by what he saw from on board the AFM's Maritime Squadron's P61: "The practical implementation of the operation, which is led by the Maltese armed forces, is very professional. And the quality of these operations is improving all the time.
"I was also very pleased by the co-ordination, the command and control chain, briefing systems, and communications."
Mr Laitinen said it was a good opportunity to show the public how Frontex is operating in the Mediterranean, but emphasised that it was important that certain operational information about the patrols not be disclosed if the patrols were to be an effective deterrent against human trafficking.
Mr Laitinen was reticent about drawing direct conclusions from the progress so far of the Nautilus II mission that kicked off on June 25. So far, the mission's patrols have detected 99 illegal immigrants on four boats (three proceeded to Malta, and one to Lampedusa).
"Technically speaking, everything is going as planned... We cannot draw direct conclusions from these figures. It is more important to take a look at what happened before the operation and what will happen when this stage of this operation is over.
"What is for sure is that launching this kind of joint operation has a direct influence on the pressure on the illegal immigrants to cross the Mediterranean. That is what can be concluded so far.
"We could have had more assets, in particular fixed wing aircraft - at least one more - and also offshore vessels. We could have maybe two or three more. We cannot create more if the member states simply do not want to participate. Everything is based on their willingness to participate."
Frontex's committed assets on paper are 21 airplanes, 27 helicopters and 116 boats. It is a far cry from what has effectively been placed at Frontex's disposal by the participating countries for the Nautilus II mission: two Maltese patrol boats, two German helicopters and a token presence by an Italian surveillance aircraft.
Italy has refused to participate more actively in this mission until Libya, the point of departure for the particular route that involves Malta most directly, takes part.
"We have just taken our first initial steps with the Libyan authorities," Mr Laitinen said when asked of Frontex's current relations with Libya.
"Frontex cannot solve the dispute between the EU and Libya. We cannot be a political actor as we are only entitled to co-operate with the authorities who have a mandate for border control. The Frontex management board has already given me a mandate to start negotiations with our Libyan colleagues."
After a nine-day technical mission to Libya in late May, Frontex officials agreed to proceed with more structured talks leading to negotiations on the protocol for a memorandum of understanding on co-operation between the agency and the Libyan border control authorities.
"We have to be consistent. We have to be patient. But I am convinced that the prospects are promising.
"Libya has participated actively in projects with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development and EUROPOL, where we have worked for over a year now with Arab countries. A seminar in Warsaw in autumn will be the next time we have contact with the Libyan colleagues.
"Honestly speaking, I expected more from Italy (for this mission). Having said that, however, Italy has so far very actively participated in almost all other Frontex operations, like last year's Nautilus, Jason (and) Hera in the Canary Islands.
"The Italians could have deployed one vessel for this operation."
Mr Laitinen said the best way to convince the member states to be more participatory was by raising the quality of the operations and obtaining good results. Frontex has so far completed, or is about to complete, around 30 joint operations; 22 to 25 are planned for this year with the additional €7 million tapped by Mr Frattini and which should be available by the end of the summer.
"I could try to convince the member states with the funds issue. Frontex has a budget of €35 million and the budget of an operation like Nautilus II is €1.5 million, which means that participating member states can receive a reimbursement of up to 80 per cent.
"Our operations are based on well prepared risk analysis. By increasing the awareness of what is happening, and planning adequate operations, performing our duties, and implementing the operation as cost effectively as possible, is the only thing that we can do. It is no use for us to plead with the member states to be more active. They know what the point is."
He also pointed out that there was a misconception that CRATE (the Centralised Record of Available Technical Equipment) was some sort of armada whose deployment was up to the Frontex director.
"CRATE is a centralised record where the member states have enrolled their assets, which could be deployed under certain conditions," Mr Laitinen explained.
"There are a lot of conditions - how severe the situation is, what kind of crisis we face, and so on. If we deployed all CRATE's assets, plus 20 helicopters, plus 20 fixed wing aircraft, 130 vessels and other equipment, the whole annual budget of Frontex would be blown in two weeks.
"We can use CRATE best in our operational planning. Once we have the risk analysis, then we make the recommendations, and set up the operational initiative. Our experts look through the catalogue and see which member states could deploy which assets and then we make targeted consultations with them, asking for specific assets for a number of weeks for a particular operation.
"This would make it easier for the member states to take a decision. Before we used to make an open call for member states to respond to. It was quite a confusing start for planning an operation based on this."
On June 11, Mr Laitinen issued a press release entitled "Frontex - facts and myths" in which he described the Warsaw-based agency as "a young agency with untapped potential which needs proper resourcing".
Asked to elaborate, he explained: "I describe the capacity of Frontex's effectiveness as a triangle of which each corner is equally important. One corner is the financial resources, how we finance or co-finance these operations - how we pay back the money that the member states have already allocated.
"The second is the human resources, and these two are interrelated. If the Council and the Parliament want to increase the capacity, they can only control two corners of the triangle. But the third, and for the time being, the critical point, is the member states. Each decision for the member states to participate in our joint operations has been taken at the political level, which makes things a little bit unpredictable."
Frontex currently has 105 personnel on its staff, which should increase to 135 by the end of the year.
In that press release, Mr Laitinen pointed out that it is not Frontex's mandate to provide emergency operations; rather the consistent introduction of well planned, regular patrols by member states to limit urgent missions and to integrate border management. Given that the Mediterranean is facing a migration crisis, how does Frontex reconcile one with the other?
"We have to identify two levels of these operations," he explained. "The first is the legal approach - taking a clear look at the regulations. Search and rescue operations do not fall under the EU's jurisdiction. Secondly, they are not among Frontex's tasks.
"Then we have the practical approach. Our main task is to co-ordinate and implement border control operations. That is the brand. We all know that quite frequently these border control operations, because of the principles of the Law of the Sea, turn into search and rescue operations. How and why we are involved in this stems from international maritime law that stipulates that all assets that could save human lives are obliged to do so.
"It is clearly stated in the instructions of each operational plan for maritime joint operations - the first objective of these operations is to save human life."
Many member states have also been reluctant to take orders from Frontex, citing sovereignty as a major concern. Borders, Mr Laitinen pointed out, are symbols of sovereignty. However, it is clearly written in the treaty of the EU that there are no external EU borders, rather external borders of member states.
"We are currently living in Schengen times. There are no checks at the internal borders. Anybody can move freely. However, we have noticed an increased sense of solidarity among states. No member state can take care only of its own borders.
"States have to regard others and they have to allocate one part of their resources to such operations which are conducted jointly. Incidentally, after the recent debate of the council I am optimistic that there is an increased understanding of this kind of burden sharing."
Some officials suspect that the lack of enthusiasm for participation in Frontex's operations stems from concern over the issue of which states take on rescued migrants.
"Burden-sharing," Mr Laitinen pointed out, "is a political issue and does not fall under Frontex's remit. There is law that governs that. What can be done beyond the law is up to the member states. We cannot solve this issue by operational means or planning operations or giving instructions. We have learnt these lessons already."
Asked for his wish list for future operations, Mr Laitinen only indicated that he hoped member states would be more co-operative.
"We have already planned quite a large number of operations," he said. "There will be sequels to Nautilus, as there are no indications whatsoever that the central Mediterranean, East Central African route through Libya, will not be a focal area. It will remain one of the focal areas. The same applies to the Canary Islands, Western Balkan region...
"What is very important is that each operation is based on risk analysis. We very carefully analyse all the indications, changes in modus operandi, small boats, bigger boats and so on. So it is about fine-tuning and improving, increasing the intensity and the cost-effectiveness of these operations.
"The pattern is already here and now it is a question of management. I sincerely wish that the member states would find it more beneficial to participate in these operations."