The hearing on Tuesday 1 December of Frontex’s Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri on accusations of refoulement of migrants did not dispel the doubts and concerns of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE).
The MEPs heard Mr Leggeri on various cases of suspected refoulement of migrants in the Aegean Sea revealed by the press. But they had to be satisfied with answers based on the mandate of the European agency, Mr Leggeri having insisted on the legality of certain operations called into question.
While the most recent charges of refoulements concern marital missions carried out between Greece and Turkey (see EUROPE 12589/18), the Executive Director of Frontex assured that the agency’s internal investigations had not confirmed these facts. The images viewed by Frontex did not provide “evidence” of such refoulement or of direct or active involvement of Frontex members, said its Executive Director.
Mr. Leggeri gave a lengthy explanation of Frontex’s various operations in the Aegean Sea and on the Greek-Turkish land border: several operations began in March, after tensions arose over the President’s invitation Erdoğan to refugees based in Turkey to travel to Greece. A total of 27 Member States participated in these operations up to September.
On each occasion, the French official was careful to explain that decisions on these operations were not the responsibility of the agency but of the host government, namely Greece. He also explained to MEPs that the regulation (656/14), which governs the agency’s operations, is subject to “legal interpretation, analysis”.
The Director of Frontex mentioned several other incidents that were described as “serious” but which, after discussions and analysis, did not lead to the confirmation of refoulements either. For example, he referred to a Danish helicopter whose pilot reportedly reported, in July, actions potentially in violation of fundamental rights. The same thing happened at the end of October with a Swedish ship that directly reported contentious facts and serious incidents as stipulated by Frontex rules. According to Mr Leggeri, this “proves that the (incident reporting) mechanism is working”.
On the actions noted by the Danish pilot, the director of Frontex said that he had written to the Greek coastguard and the competent minister to open an investigation and ask why a serious incident report had not been drawn up.
The director of the agency also referred to an incident in April: a night flight operated by Frontex reportedly reported suspicious activities attributed to the Turkish authorities. But, again, no Frontex agents were involved, said Mr Leggeri. He also referred more generally to the difficulties encountered with Turkey, whose concept of territorial waters is not the same as that of the Europeans, a situation that can create “overlaps” in patrol areas.
Regarding the events of April, the agency reported these suspicious actions directly to the Greek authorities, said Fabrice Leggeri. Without being directly involved in these operations, however, Frontex agents were able to film these images and transmit them.
These elements did not seem to convince MEPs, some of whom wondered why the European agency had, in some cases, decided not to follow up on reports of serious incidents.
The Dutch liberal Sophie in ‘t Veld also pointed out the delay in the recruitment by Frontex of an officer specialised in the respect of fundamental rights. This delay was confirmed by the French official, who attributed it to the red tape and the difficulties encountered in defining the staff member’s profile and missions.
Far from being reassured, the S&D group immediately called on Mr Leggeri to “resign”. “He has lost our confidence”, said Dutchwoman Kati Piri in a statement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)