Technical and operational strategy for European integrated border management

Managing the EU’s external borders is a complex task. The land border – 12 033 km – stretches from the Norwegian land border with Russia in the north to the Greek land border with Turkey in the East, and the Spanish land borders with Morocco in Ceuta and Melilla in the south. The sea border – 32 719 km – covers maritime areas in the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Black Sea. Altogether the external border measures 44 752 km. There are 1 863 authorized Border Crossing Points (BCPs) open daily divided between 451 BCPs at the external land border, 782 BCPs at the external sea border, and 630 at the external air borders with 230 operating regular connections with Third Countries. Based on Frontex Risk Analysis Network data, the total number of passengers recorded in 2018 at the EU external borders was 577 228 100 being checked on entry into the EU and roughly the same number of persons being checked on exit. Bearing in mind that not all countries reported their figures, the actual number of passengers is estimated to even exceed 600 million.