Brussels, 27/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 26 November, the European Common Border Management Agency announced that Fabrice Leggeri from France had been appointed Executive Director of the Frontex Agency.
The main challenge facing the new Executive Director, who takes over from Acting Executive Director, Gil Arias from Spain (temporarily in charge after the resignation of Ilkka Laitinen from Finland) will be to develop the agency in close cooperation with the member states. This challenge is all the more important right now, with record levels of migrants reaching European shores and frequently high levels of ships transporting them, sinking. The question of the agency's budget, which the new president of the Commission has promised to increase, will also be crucial. Fabrice Leggeri was born in 1968 and moved from the Home Office, where he headed the Cross border Traffic, Frontiers and Visas Unit. He was a national expert detached to the European Commission in 2000-2003 and was involved in the discussions that led to the creation of Frontex. Leggeri also worked at the French Ministry of Defence and since August 2013, he headed the Division on Irregular Migration at the French Ministry of the Interior. Leggeri's mandate is for five years. (SP)