Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) continued their hearings on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, on Tuesday 16 March.
This time, a level of criticism was directed at the EU Commissioner herself, Ylva Johansson, by the EPP and Renew Europe groups, who questioned her actions.
Jeroen Lenaers (the Netherlands) criticised the slowness of some of the answers and clarifications, in particular regarding the legal basis allowing Frontex agents to carry weapons or on the legal interpretation of Regulation 656/2014, which provides a framework for carrying out rescue operations at sea.
“You make serious allegations when you say that Frontex refuses to respect the Regulation”, the Dutchman added, referring to the Commissioner's dissatisfaction with the delay in hiring staff to deal with fundamental rights.
Renew Europe MEP Malik Azmani (the Netherlands) said that the Commissioner was even sending out a signal to Frontex “that she does not want to help”.
The Commissioner has dismissed these criticisms, saying that clarifications regarding the legal interpretation of the Regulation had been made in sufficient time for the meeting of the Management Board on 5 March, which subsequently published them (see EUROPE 12674/16). As for compliance with the Regulation, the Commissioner noted that 40 members of staff to specifically deal with fundamental rights should have already been in place by the end of 2020 under the new mandate. She therefore notes the obvious facts.
Ylva Johansson continues to believe that the delays in hiring, as well as the slow investigation into accusations of so-called pushbacks, “damage the reputation of the agency” and it is the executive director of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, who must take responsibility for these failures.
Regarding accusations of pushbacks, however, the Commissioner said she “does not share” the view of Cornelia Ernst (The Left, Germany) that evidence of pushbacks taking place has been provided. “However, I agree that there is evidence of failure”, particularly within the incident reporting system.
Frontex Director Fabrice Leggeri, who was present at the hearing, reiterated that some of the new staff who will specifically be working on fundamental rights will be hired soon, at the end of March. The grievance mechanism and mechanism for handling incidents will also be strengthened, he said.
The Frontex Agency will additionally hold a meeting next week on the criteria for suspending a Frontex operation in the event of violations of rights at an external border, said the Chair of the Management Board, Marko Gašperlin, from Slovenia. These are the options provided for under Article 46 of the Frontex Regulation. The Left group, represented by Swedish MEP Malin Björk, said on Tuesday that the agency should activate this article now.
“We really need to come to an agreement on the rules of implementation”, said Fabrice Leggeri, noting that this decision to suspend activities was taken in January at the Hungarian external border. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)