The Executive Director of the border and coast guard agency, Frontex, Frenchman Fabrice Leggeri, presented his resignation to the agency’s management board, which accepted it on Friday 29 April.
The agency’s boss was put on the spot by a confidential report from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which has been investigating his mismanagement of the agency for months and which may have precipitated his decision, according to Politico, which broke the story.
“Due to the investigations by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) against three Frontex staff members, including the Executive Director of the agency, the Frontex Management Board met on 28 and 29 April 2022 for an extraordinary meeting to decide on the next steps. The executive director had the opportunity to comment on the findings of the OLAF report. On the first day of the meeting, he declared his resignation from all his duties with immediate effect and his intention to terminate his employment with the agency. The Management Board took note of his intentions and concluded that the employment has therefore come to an end”, the Frontex Management Board summarised in a statement.
In view of his resignation, “the Management Board decided that launching further proceedings against the Executive Director in connection with the OLAF report of 15 February 2022 is not necessary anymore, since the outcome of these proceedings will no longer affect the position of the Executive Director.
Aija Kalnaja, as the most senior Deputy Executive Director, will replace him, until a new interim Executive Director is appointed, “by June 2022 at the latest”.
The Management Board “clearly states that effective border control and the protection of fundamental rights are fully compatible. The mandate of the Agency is clearly defined in the regulation”, the statement said.
Fabrice Leggeri began his second five-year term in 2020, but has been facing a series of revelations since the end of 2020 about possible practices of pushbacks of migrants at the EU’s borders. The European Parliament set up the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group in the Committee on Civil Liberties and published a report in mid-2021 highlighting shortcomings in the incident reporting chain.
“What matters is the institution. It is the institution that fulfils its mandate and it does not depend on one particular person”, the Commission reacted.
Frontex “has critical tasks and its main critical task is to assist Member States in the protection of the external borders, while ensuring that human rights are respected in the execution of this task”, added spokesman Eric Mamer.
In the European Parliament, Birgit Sippel (Germany) welcomed the departure on behalf of the S&D group. “This is a long overdue development, after years of constant allegations of pushbacks and human rights violations, but it is good news that Leggeri is finally stepping down”.
“I expressly welcome this resignation, which is the only correct consequence of the Executive Director’s misconduct over the years. This resignation would never have happened without the massive pressure from the Parliament, journalists and NGOs”, reacted Cornelia Ernst (The Left, Germany).
Mr Leggeri “personally and actively participated in Frontex’s complicity in and cover-up of fundamental rights violations”.
This week, a new report came out with new accusations of complicity in pushback practices in the Aegean Sea, which would have involved around 957 migrants between 2020 and 2021.
The Frontex boss is also said to have contributed to delaying the recruitment of 40 officers to monitor compliance with fundamental rights.
The Commission also indicates that it has multiplied initiatives to ensure that Frontex fulfils its mandate on fundamental rights with a specific working group on these issues.
The European Parliament is expected to come back to this resignation on Wednesday, during its debate on the Frontex discharge. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)