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    • Frontex Executive Director and Chief of Polish Border Guard visit EU’s eastern border with Belarus

    2025-11-21

    On 20 November 2025, Hans Leijtens, Executive Director of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, visited Poland’s eastern border with Belarus alongside Major General BG Robert Bagan, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Border Guard, to see first-hand the situation at this section of the EU’s eastern border and discuss how to further strengthen cooperation. 

    The visit to the Podlaskie region built on their recent meetings at Frontex Headquarters in Warsaw and at the Headquarters of the Polish Border Guard. On site, they were briefed by a regional commander, met front-line officers and reviewed measures in place to manage the border in a challenging security environment. 

    Discussions focused on practical cooperation at the EU’s eastern border, including joint risk analysis, information exchange and situational awareness, training and return support. Both sides underlined that border management is a shared European responsibility and must remain effective, coordinated and fully compliant with EU law. 

    “Coming to the border together with our Polish colleagues shows how closely our work is connected,” said Hans Leijtens, Frontex Executive Director. “I was truly impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the officers serving here in such demanding conditions. Poland carries a special responsibility at Europe’s eastern frontier, and Frontex is here to support Member States with expertise, officers and modern tools wherever they are needed. Managing borders is about security, but also about people, and I am proud that Frontex can support the work being done here.”
    “Protecting the Polish and EU borders is our shared responsibility,” said Major General BG Robert Bagan, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Border Guard. “Our officers serve every day in a demanding environment on the EU’s eastern frontier. Close cooperation with Frontex strengthens our capacity to react to changing situations and keep people safe.”

    Through Joint Operation Poland and other activities, Frontex deploys staff alongside Polish Border Guard officers at selected land border crossing points, airports and in the Baltic Sea region. The Agency also cooperates closely with Poland on the return of people with no right to stay in the EU and on specialised training for border and coast guard officers, including through activities of the European Border and Coast Guard Academy and Polish training centres. 

    The visit is part of a wider series of engagements by the Executive Director with Member States to listen to operational needs and support partners in managing borders effectively and in line with EU law and fundamental rights. 

    Contact:                                              

    Spokesperson: Krzysztof Borowski (+48 667 667 294)