Frontex: Transcending the EU Borders

Does the work of Frontex transform borderlands? The article aims to explore the role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) beyond the EU borders. Challenging the dominant portrayal of Frontex as a technical border control "tool" deployed at the EU borders, this article unpacks Frontex's impact outside the EU geographic space. Applying the "cultures of border control" analytical framework and analyzing Frontex's cooperation with third countries, it casts light on Frontex's cultural impact in the Western Balkan region, using Albania and Serbia as case studies. The article argues that Frontex is expanding and diffusing the EU border control culture beyond the EU borders. This transcends Frontex's institutional mandate set by its creators and the technical nature of cooperation agreed by its third partners. Actually, through its cultural impact, it both solidifies and expands its role and salience in border control, escaping the EU geographic limits.