Frontex halts migrant reintegration support after annual budget runs dry

Frontex suspended its reintegration support programme for deported migrants on 2 October after costs exhausted the agency's annual budget, according to an email Executive Director Hans Leijtens sent to staff on that date.

The programme, running since 2022, provides financial assistance, healthcare, vocational training and counselling to people returned to their home countries after being refused the right to stay in the EU. Leijtens wrote that costs had "reached a level that does no longer ensure full financial coverage," and that no new applications could be accepted until additional funds are secured.

Frontex cannot resume the programme without a fresh budget allocation. The suspension lands at a moment of particular awkwardness: the EU has been pushing to accelerate deportations as a central plank of migration policy, and the European Commission is expected within weeks to propose widening the agency's mandate — including its role in returns and reintegration.

New legislation on returns was adopted earlier this month. The suspension raises direct questions about the operational coherence of that legislative push: the EU is legislating for more removals while its own reintegration support programme sits without funding.