Commission releases final €951 million to Czechia as it plans Frontex expansion

The payment, due in December 2026 once the Council confirms it, closes Czechia's recovery plan. The same week, a report by advisers led by Catherine Day set out the Commission's biggest shake-up in two decades.

The European Commission this week provisionally released €951 million to Czechia, the final payment under the country's recovery plan. In the same week, it proposed tripling the workforce of Frontex, the EU border agency, and giving it new powers to deport migrants beyond EU borders and monitor social media.

The plan would raise Frontex from 10,000 officers to 30,000 by 2041, giving the agency a standing force at the Union's borders. Serafin said in July that he did not expect decisions on major structural changes before negotiations on the next long-term budget, covering 2028 to 2034, are concluded.

The external half of that restructuring took shape on October 26, 2026, when a high-level group of advisers led by Catherine Day, a former Commission Secretary-General, handed over its report. The group, made up of nine external experts, put forward nine interrelated recommendations. Their aim, as set out in the report, is to make the Commission more agile. The handover is intended to help shape what the Commission describes as its biggest administrative shake-up in two decades.

At the heart of the report is a proposal to move away from departments working in isolation, with greater collaboration across directorates-general, including through portfolios that span several of them. The group also called for a stronger Secretariat-General, the Commission's central administrative body, to act as a strategic centre. A third recommendation sets out a human-centered approach to artificial intelligence. Day said the review had shown wide support for reform inside the institution. "The work done on the large scale review has shown that there is a broad coalition for change right across the Commission," she said.

Von der Leyen and Serafin respond

Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission President, said at the handover that the review was reaching its second phase. Serafin, the commissioner in charge of administration, told reporters that the external assessment, combined with feedback from staff, gave the institution a "mandate to go for far reaching changes." Magnus Brunner, the EU Migration Commissioner, has promised that Frontex will be the "central EU actor on returns", supporting deportations from A to Z.

Of the funds, €350 million is earmarked for affordable housing, financing renovations and construction in more than 130 housing projects across the country. The provisional release is not yet definitive, and the money has not reached the Czech state. The Economic and Financial Committee of the Council of the EU must still confirm the payment. Disbursement is expected in December 2026.

The plan has met resistance inside the European Parliament. Cecilia Strada, an Italian socialist MEP, called the reform shameful and said it brings Frontex closer and closer to Donald Trump's ICE. Mélissa Camara, a French Green MEP, warned that social media surveillance poses serious risks to people's data. Susanna Ceccardi, an Italian League MEP, said the fight against traffickers must not become a pretext for monitoring citizens' opinions: "We will make no concessions and we will not sign blank checks."

Serafin tasked with review

In September 2024, von der Leyen tasked Commissioner Serafin with a large-scale review of the Commission's organisation and operations. To support him, she appointed a reflection group chaired by Catherine Day. The group's nine members were appointed in their personal capacities, rather than as representatives of governments or institutions. In that role, they serve as an external sounding board for the review, offering advice from outside the Commission itself.

The final report of the High-Level reflection group on the future of the Commission's civil service was completed in October 2026. Serafin must present his recommendations from the wider review to von der Leyen by the end of 2026.