The European Parliament’s Frontex Scrutiny Group held its final hearing on Wednesday 23 June in the presence of the Head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Fabrice Leggeri, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and Portuguese Interior Minister, Eduardo Cabrita, and is now starting to draft its report.
The Commissioner noted “tangible” progress on governance since the beginning of 2021 “with the appointment of the new Head of Fundamental Rights”, who took up his post on 1 June, and the recruitment of the first 20 Fundamental Rights Monitors, “six of whom took up their duties last week”.
But “a lot remains to be done”, as the Agency actually had to recruit 40 people by the end of 2020, so it has only fulfilled half of its obligations, “although we have been discussing for 9 months last year on the new organisational structure of the Agency”, Mrs Johansson noted.
The Commission has also learned at its level and set up “a horizontal Frontex Support Group within DG HOME”, as “we also need to step up from our side”, even though the Agency remains an independent entity and the Management Board is composed of the Member States.
On the allegations of migrant pushback by Frontex, the Commissioner noted some progress “with the Executive Director reporting to his Board” and “closely monitoring the implementation of the various measures”, such as reports of serious incidents. And it is indeed the task of the Executive Director to “ensure full compliance of the Frontex operational activities with the legal framework, not only in the Eastern Mediterranean, but anywhere where the European Border and Coast Guard carries out European integrated border management at the external borders”.
She also felt that “there is a lot more work ahead for Frontex” on the grievance mechanism against the Agency.
Fabrice Leggeri, for his part, told MEPs that at this stage “no evidence” of pushback or of Frontex’s involvement in pushback has been demonstrated. In mid-June, the European Ombudsman also “concluded that there was no maladministration”.
The Frenchman described to MEPs how the arrangements for reporting serious incidents have been strengthened. It is also now again possible to use the so-called “whistleblowers” procedures by officers who witness incidents.
The Agency is also considering equipping its agents with cameras to better document possible incidents.
The rapporteur of the Scrutiny Group, Tineke Strik from the Netherlands, was not very convinced by the answers of the head of Frontex.
The Greens/EFA MEP believes that the various reports have established violations of migrants’ rights at the external borders, notably by the Greek coast guard, but “apparently for Frontex, a denial by the Greek authorities is sufficient”. The NGO Amnesty International released a report on 23 June detailing 21 new pushback cases. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)