Théo Michel is vice-president of the Republicans.
Adrien Hall is a lawyer at the Paris bar, specializing in public law.
Between the decision of the Constitutional Council which swept away all the measures advocated by the Republicans which made it possible to fight against illegal immigration, the tragic death of a farmer and her daughter by two Armenians under OQTF and the European elections on everyone's minds , immigration is more than ever at the heart of our national political debate.
It must be said that with 380,000 irregular entries recorded at the EU's external border in 2023, a peak not seen since 2016, the situation is catastrophic.
Frontex figures, constantly increasing over the last three years, remind us at every moment of the urgency of reforming this agency to put an end to lax migration.
Created in 2004 to secure the EU's external borders, Frontex has never succeeded in effectively stemming the waves of immigration hitting our European soil.
Worse, it will have had a series of migration failures, culminating in 2015, where it showed itself to be totally powerless in the face of the massive arrival of more than a million migrants.
A result as regrettable as it was predictable, since it was certainly not the several hundred Frontex agents, then dispatched by the Member States on a voluntary basis (sic), who could succeed in controlling a border going from the Canary Islands to the north of Finland.
Also read: “The European Commission wants to transform Frontex into a migrant rights monitoring agency”
Despite a strengthening cost of 11.3 billion euros for the period 2021-2027 and an annual budget of around one billion euros for only 1,500 agents, far from the 10,000 promised for 2024 by Ursula Von der Leyen, force is to note that Frontex is failing to stem explosive illegal immigration.
Far from its initial ambition, it has now been reduced to the status of a reception agency for illegal immigrants, more concerned with counting irregular crossings of our borders than with securing them.
According to its own figures, the central Mediterranean route is out of control, with a 50% increase in irregular crossings compared to 2022, when the West Africa route reaches its highest annual peak at this time. day.
With immigration made up of 61% Africans according to the OECD, France is already shaping up to be an El Dorado for this settlement immigration.
Something to definitely worry the 63% of French people who want to put an end to extra-European immigration.
Without this bold reform, Europe risks irremediably falling into a migration impasse, threatening the stability of its societies.
Théo Michel and Adrien Hall
The European elections must therefore allow us to respond to two imperatives: to put an end to this fiasco and to lay the foundations for resolute political action.
We must therefore rethink Frontex and, like what the former Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš, proposed in 2018, the EU must focus on financing national border and coast guard forces. countries placed on the front line: Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta and France.
Especially since these countries in no way need an ineffective administrative duplicate, made up of inexperienced Frontex agents, incapable of making a decision to expel a foreigner in an irregular situation, this power being reserved for the judicial and administrative authorities of the Member States.
No, what these countries need is more resources and a clear overall vision to make the necessary decisions on the migration front.
Frontex must therefore be transformed: its operational forces must be renationalized by placing them under national control, refocused on the migration strategy by promoting the sharing of information and skills, and associated with European diplomacy to negotiate and obtain, on behalf of all Member States, the consular passes necessary for the expulsion of illegal immigrants.
Without this bold reform, Europe risks irremediably falling into a migration impasse, threatening the stability of its societies.
Now is the time for urgent and decisive action.