Executive summary

• Author: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (European Commission), ICF
• Pages: 2-5

Study to assess the impacts related to possible evolutions of EUROSUR - Final Report

September, 2019

2

Executive summary

This is the Final Report of a Study which assessed the impacts related to the possible

evolution of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) – the c ommon

framework for information exchange and cooperation between Member States and

Schengen Associated Countries’ (thereafter referred to as Member States1) national

authorities with a responsibility for border surveillance and the European Border and Coast

Guard Agency (EBCGA, ex-Frontex). The Study ai med to support Directorate-General for

Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission (DG HOME) in elaborating and

assessing proposals for possible modifications of Regulation 1052/20132 and built on the

results of DG HOME’s evaluation of Regulation 1052/2013 (th e 'EUROSUR Regulation).

Background and context

The Study took place in the context of the drafting of the proposal for a new European

Border and Coast Guard Regulation3 (amending Regulation (EU) 2016/ 16244 – the EBCG

Regulation and Regulation (EU) No 1052/2013 – the EUROSUR Regulation). This proposed

new EBCG Regulation incorporates EUROSUR within it an d proposes an extension of the

scope of EUROSU R as a necessary element of the functioning of the EBCG. Other legal

instruments that form p art of the Schengen Acquis, such as the Schengen Border Code,

were also considered during the Study.

The Study covered 30 Member States, as well as 19 thi rd countries part of four R egional

Networks. It considered the further development of EUROSUR within the eight-year period

from 2019, including the n ext multi-annual financial period from 2021 to 2027. Th e costs

of the possible evolution of EUROSUR were estimated independent ly of the EU funding

instruments available to the Member States and to EBCGA.

Methodology

The Study relied on cost and benefit models to assess the impact of the possible evolutions

of EUROSUR. The inputs into the cost and benefit models were derived from desk research,

stakeholder consultations and reasoned assum ptions. The Study methodology's strengths

reside in its bottom-up approach t o the elicitation of the costs of the possible evolution of

EUROSUR and the validity tests performed by experts involved in the Study. Its limitations

relate to the reach of its findings in that the Study is useful to provide an order of

magnitude of the cost implications rath er than a line-by-line assessment of the price to

implement each of the solution s implied by each of the options considered by the Stud y.

The policy benefits that EUROSUR will contribute to as part of the Integrated Border

Management Concept h ave not been assessed in detail , and were considered outside the

scope of the study. Rather, the assessment of benefits focused on ope rational benefits.

Options assessed

The Study considered sev eral options, which were eventual ly all included in the proposed

new EBCG regulation. The options below are not alternative but rather build upon each

1 Member States in the context of Eurosur are EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,

Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,

Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, except the

United Kingdom and Ireland; as well as the Schengen Associated Countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway,

Switzerland).

2 Regulation (EU) No 1052/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council o f 22 October 2013 establishing

the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur), OJ L 295, 6.11.2013, p. 11–26

3 Proposal for a regulation European Parliament and of the Council on the European Border and Coast Guard and

repealing Regulation (EU) n°1052/2013 of the European Parliam ent and of the Council and Regulation (EU) n°

2016/1624 of the European Parliament and of the Council (COM(2018)0631 – C8-0406/2018 – 2018/0330A(COD))

4 Regulation (EU) 2016/1624 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2016 on the European

Border and Coast Guard and amending Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council

and repealing Regulation (EC) No 863/20 07 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulation

(EC) No 2007/2004 and Council Decision 2005/267/EC OJ L 251, 16.9.2016, p. 1–76