5.   Every return operation organised or coordinated by the Agency shall be monitored in accordance with Article 8(6) of Directive 2008/115/EC. The monitoring of forced-return operations shall be carried out by the forced-return monitor on the basis of objective and transparent criteria and shall cover the whole return operation from the pre-departure phase until the handover of the returnees in the third country of return. The forced-return monitor shall submit a report on each forced-return operation to the executive director, the fundamental rights officer and to the competent national authorities of all the Member States involved in the given operation. If necessary, appropriate follow-up shall be ensured by the executive director and competent national authorities respectively.

6.   If the Agency has concerns regarding the respect of fundamental rights at any stage of a return operation, it shall communicate them to the participating Member States and to the Commission.

7.   The executive director shall evaluate the results of the return operations and shall transmit every six months a detailed evaluation report to the European Parliament, to the Council, to the Commission and to the management board covering all return operations conducted in the previous semester, together with the observations of the fundamental rights officer. The executive director shall make a comprehensive comparative analysis of those results with a view to enhancing the quality, coherence and effectiveness of future return operations. The executive director shall include that analysis in the Agency's annual activity report.

8.   The Agency shall finance or co-finance return operations from its budget, in accordance with the financial rules applicable to the Agency, giving priority to those conducted by more than one Member State, or from hotspot areas.

1.   The Agency shall, after taking due account of the opinion of the fundamental rights officer, constitute a pool of forced-return monitors from competent bodies of the Member States who carry out forced-return monitoring activities in accordance with Article 8(6) of Directive 2008/115/EC and who have been trained in accordance with Article 62 of this Regulation.

2.   The management board shall, on the basis of a proposal from the executive director, determine the profile and the number of forced-return monitors to be made available to that pool. The same procedure shall apply with regard to any subsequent changes in the profile and overall numbers.

Member States shall be responsible for contributing to the pool by nominating forced-return monitors corresponding to the defined profile, without prejudice to the independence of those monitors under national law, where national law so provides. The Agency shall also contribute fundamental rights monitors as referred to in Article 110 to the pool. Forced-return monitors with specific expertise in child protection shall be included in the pool.

3.   Member States' contribution of forced-return monitors to return operations and interventions for the following year shall be planned on the basis of annual bilateral negotiations and agreements between the Agency and Member States. In accordance with those agreements, Member States shall make the forced-return monitors available for deployment at the request of the Agency, unless they are faced with an exceptional situation substantially affecting the discharge of national tasks. Such a request shall be made at least 21 working days before the intended deployment, or five working days in the case of a rapid return intervention.