Good afternoon everybody and welcome to today's press conference with Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen and Commissioner for Interior Magnus Brunner.

The topic today is strengthening Frontex and also the digitalization of return process. We, start right into maintenance. Executive Vice President, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this press point.

So we are here together with Magnus Brunner to share light on the two important milestones on European border management,

a revised Frontex mandate, and the digitalization of returns.

The EU must ensure control of its external borders.

Significant progress has been made over the last years here.

The EU has established the world's most advanced border management system.

Illegal border crossings, they are at the lowest level since 2021,

down 55% over the past two years. Despite falling crossing numbers, migratory pressure remains.

We know that because of geopolitical developments, hybrid threats,

disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, they continue to test our border resilience.

At the same time, also criminal smuggling networks, they are growing increasingly professional,

adapting rapidly and using new technologies and also social media to coordinate unauthorized crossings. These evolving threats require continuous action.

Building on lessons from sudden arrivals like Ceuta in summer 2026,

we prioritize crisis anticipation, prevention, and rapid emergency response.

The Commission proposals open a new era now for Frontex with a revised mandate.

Capitaltising on the momentum of the pact on migration and asylum and the newly adopted return regulation,

the EU is deploying modern digital tools to ensure stronger coordination and effective returns.

Frontex already plays a critically important role in supporting Member States to manage Europe's external borders.

Under the new rules, its mandate will be further reinforced, enabling it to act faster and more effectively, and in addition,

we will also make sure that Frontex has state of the art equipment and technology at its disposal.

The proposal also seeks to address political and practical constraints identified in the current system.

On border management, Member States need more flexible support, stronger operational capacity,

improved planning and better access to equipment and surveillance tools.

The proposal also strengthens operational tools and strategic planning.

The proposal also equips Frontex to support Member States in crisis and emergency situations more quickly and more flexibly.

It creates a quick Frontex reaction force, strengthens situational awareness and early warning, upgrades also Eurosur,

and broadens the agency's role in addressing hybrid threats affecting external borders.

This is the concrete operational response to the demand for stronger border preparedness and resilience.

We will also create an online monitoring and response center to monitor publicly accessible social media content,

to detect developments relevant to external border management and also to support action against illegal online content linked to border security risks.

Together, these tools significantly improve early warning, preparedness and crisis anticipation.

Let me highlight two elements from online aspects that stand out as a major steps forward now.

First, the proposal gives Frontex clear legal powers to act when identifying illegal content,

so through notices to the platforms and if designated as such by the competent national authority as a trusted flagger under DSA.

And through requests to competent authorities in a Member State to issue orders to a platform to provide information or to act against illegal content.

The DSA enforcement framework remains fully respected here.

Frontex can act within its mandate on detection and signaling and directly engage with and alert platforms of its findings.

Alongside the Frontex regulation proposal and following the entry into force of the new Return regulation on 16 October,

the Commission proposes today also a new regulation to digitalize return,

readmission and reintegration procedures across the European Union.

We want to modernize the handling of the return cases and speed up administrative processes here,

as well as improve data collection and data sharing.

These new EU level systems for readmission and reintegration are created, allowing secure information exchange on identification, travel documents,

return operations and post arrival support, and this means establishing a common digital backbone,

connecting the relevant authorities, processes and tools.

Frontex will play a key role in the common digital architecture, which will allow us to manage the return processes in a more efficient,

more cost effective manner, and also simplifying procedures and reducing administrative burden.

The new reality requires a new mandate for Frontex.

With these two important proposals,

we are significantly strengthening our external borders and support we can offer for our Member States.

The digital dimension here is not a technical annex to the Frontex reform,

it is one of its main political enablers.

If the Union wants secure borders, effective returns and also a credible crisis response,

it needs superior situational awareness, faster information flows,

stronger interoperability and better operational data management.

Thank you. And now over to Magnus.