The EU on Friday formally established its first permanent border corps, which will enforce Frontex with 10,000 officers by 2027, news wires reported.The adoption by Member States means that the EU border and coast guard agency for Schengen area will have personnel wearing its uniform and on its payroll who can be deployed to the bloc's external borders to handle crises or general management. Frontex currently has up to 1,500 officers active at any time but they are seconded to the agency by Member States for short missions, along with ships and aircraft.

Last week, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, co-led an international operation against serious and organised cross border crime in the Western Balkans region.

In July, the number of detections of illegal border crossings on Europe’s main migratory routes rose 4% from the previous month to around 10 500, Frontex reported. Overall, the total for the first seven months of 2019 was 30% lower than a year ago at around 54 300.

The number of illegal border crossings on Europe’s main migratory routes rose by 6% to around 8,300 compared to the previous month, EU's border and coast agency, Frontex, said Thursday. From the previous month the Western Mediterranean route near Spain saw a rise of 55% from the previous month to almost 2,350, with nationals of Morocco, Mali, and Algeria accounting for the largest number of migrants who used it.

The Management Board of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, met for the first time in Warsaw with partners from the Western Balkan countries to discuss joint strategies to address migration and security challenges in the region, the agency stated in a press release.