To what extent is the EU agency FRONTEX transparent and accountable for its activities

The purpose of this study is to estimate, to what extent EU-level agency FRONTEX is transparent and accountable. The study is conducted in the legal area, inasmuch as the focus lays on the legal implications of both the concepts. The transparency and the accountability allow to maintain democratic control, increase citizens’ trust and encourage active involvement of civil society in the democratic life which are EU policy priorities. The transparency is often intermixed with the accountability, however, both of them contribute to the principle of openness. This contribution is led on the grounds that being transparent is equal to openness and being accountable is equal to responsibility. The essential rules for both the principals at supranational EU-level are examined and applied to EU body – agency FRONTEX. The paper argues that there are the discrepancies between the general EU standards and actual agency’s type of acting; it is still much to evolve in the activity to increase its open manner of work, in spite of the fact that post-Lisbon period brought up positive remarkable changes in this aspect. The case of TRITON operation is taken for the illustration of FRONTEX current working. For the examination and further assessment, the qualitative data are used, including the official documents of EU institutions, academic literature and reports from NGOs. The research elucidates, how the transparency and accountability are integrated in the FRONTEX’s work and to what extent they are integrated in the present moment.