Even as people continue to die at Europe’s borders, little is known about the private sector’s role in implementing increasingly draconian EU migration policies. In fact, when it comes to migration, the cosy relationship between private companies and EU institutions is purposefully kept far from public view, escaping scrutiny and transparency. As our new research shows, the truth is that such companies are getting more than their fair share of face time with EU policymakers, via pitch events that create exclusive opportunities to influence public spending and policymaking on migration topics.
Which EU agencies are welcoming the private sector with open arms?
Every year, three EU agencies instrumental for implementing EU migration policies — eu-LISA, Europol, and Frontex — invite representatives from private companies to events where they have the chance to pitch their products or services, and make the case for how these can support the agencies’ operations. The themes and agendas for each industry event are set by the agencies themselves, who issue an open call for company proposals and select event participants from the responses.
Founded in 2011, the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), is charged with managing the numerous databases established by the EU to collect the personal and biometric data of any migrant person, bypassing the EU’s own data protection laws. While the agency has hosted the eu-LISA industry roundtables since 2014, our research covers private sector participation between 2017 and 2025.
The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), which was established in 1998, has seen its mandate and budget, especially in relation to migration, increase dramatically in recent years, even as it has stepped up its surveillance of migrants, solidarity groups, and activists. It launched the Europol Industry and Research Days in 2024, with our research mapping the past two years.
Similarly to Europol, the mandate and budget of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) has increased since it became operational in 2004, in parallel with its involvement in human rights violations and border violence. It has hosted Frontex Industry Days since 2017, and our data spans 2020-2025 (Corporate Europe Observatory have mapped data for 2017-2019).
What does our research show about how the private sector engages with these agencies?
Building on the work done by partners such as Corporate Europe Observatory and Statewatch, Access Now has mapped the attendance of more than 450 private companies at these agencies’ industry-focused events, including details of the more than 600 product(s) or service(s) on display. The information in this non-exhaustive database was gathered from public sources, with the exception of information related to Europol’s Industry and Research Days, which was obtained via investigative journalism efforts.
While a listed company’s participation in these events does not necessarily imply that their services will be procured by the agency in question, it does suggest their willingness to enable the EU’s techno-solutionist approach to tackling social issues, and to collaborate in building surveillance infrastructure that underpins repressive and violent migration policies.
What kinds of products are these companies selling?
From biometric entry gates to high-altitude platform stations, EU agencies use their industry-focused events to explore the various ways in which the technology, security, and big data industries could shape the EU approach to security and migration. Of the more than 600 pitched products mapped in our database, we identified three main technology categories:
Most company presentations offered solutions for enabling “seamless” airport travel, such as remote biometric identification and biometric gates, but also mobile biometric readers that can be used to patrol borders and racially profile migrant people.
Many of the solutions, including zeppelins, drones or counter-drones, and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) pitched to Frontex in particular support airborne border surveillance. This reflects the EU’s approach to search-and-rescue, which prioritizes surveillance from a distance, rather than proactive rescue support.
A large portion of the products offered solutions to process large datasets, and to generate assessments or predictions based on this data. This is a broad category that responds to the EU’s need to exert control over and extrapolate new information, such as crime or migration forecasts, from the massive amounts of migrant people’s data collected in recent years.
Other services pitched by the 450 companies including medical escorts on deportation (“return”) flights, warehouse and transportation services, or software factories — reflecting the agencies’ wide-range of evolving priorities.
Which companies are pitching to the EU agencies?
The companies that we have listed as participating in these three agencies’ events represent a wide variety of industries, markets, geographies, and size. This itself reflects the market expansion arising from increased public investment in security and migration. We did however note three particular trends:
- The largest players attend most often. The likes of Airbus, Fujitsu, GMV, Idemia, iProov, Leonardo, NTT Data, Thales, and SAS Institute Inc. join these events over and over again to present different and versatile technological solutions that they say meet the agencies’ needs.
- There are a lot of one-off appearances. Most of the participating companies have attended just a few events; answering each call for proposals with a pitch for products or services that responds to the demands stated at the time. Among these, we noted a wide range of company sizes and sectors, from the likes of Red Hat, Oracle, or IBM, to smaller-scale companies not historically involved in the security sector.
- Consultancy firms are increasingly involved. The frequent participation of consultancies such as Accenture and Deloitte showcases the trend of public policy design and implementation being increasingly outsourced to private actors, which results in policies that do not reflect people’s real needs.
We also noted with concern that these EU agencies appear to have an “open door” policy even for companies headquartered in countries whose governments are actively implicated in war crimes; amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza, for instance, both Frontex and Europol invited more than one Israeli company to participate in its events.
Resisting a commercialised Fortress Europe
The private sector’s role in shaping the EU surveillance infrastructure reflects a political environment increasingly focused on deregulation and securitization, prioritizing business interests over protecting people’s rights or investing in the social sector. Both Frontex and Europol have been allocated significantly more funds for the next decade, and both agencies’ mandates will be revised and expanded this year; which will only create more demand for solutions supplied by the private sector.
The marriage of convenience between these three EU agencies and the private sector has played a key role in driving this expansion, even as human rights violations against migrant and racialized people intensify, and surveillance of civic space increases. It is time to hold these companies accountable for their role in building the EU’s surveillance-driven deportation machine, to pressure European policymakers away from an economic order that prioritizes profit over public interest, and to encourage public funds to be redirected towards safety, solidarity and social protection instead.
Credits
This research project was made possible with support from the Heinrich Böll Foundation. We would like to thank independent researcher Antonella Napolitano for her instrumental contribution in designing and initiating the mapping exercise.