MEPs expressed a desire to remain vigilant on developments within the Frontex agency on the evening of Monday 17 October, with some MEPs believing that the institutions would be making “a mistake if they thought everything was now settled”, as Greens/EFA MEP Tineke Strik (Dutch) summed up.
MEPs held an impromptu debate on Monday after the publication last week in the German newspaper Der Spiegel of the OLAF report, which was published in early 2022 and led directly to the resignation of former Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri (see EUROPE 13043/35). The debate also gave MEPs an opportunity to justify the rejection of the discharge of Frontex’s accounts, agreed on 18 October (see related article).
The OLAF report, which is still not public, but was leaked to the press, detailed all the mistakes committed by the Frontex executive team and exposed, in particular, the passive complicity of this three-person management team with regard to the practices of the Greek coast guard that could be classified as migrant pushback.
It is clear that the actions of this executive team “are extremely serious and have damaged Frontex’s ability to carry out its missions”, commented European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. But she also listed positive developments within the agency with a new Fundamental Rights Officer, new requirements for monitoring incidents and a new mandate.
“There are also brave men and women committed” fully to protecting the external borders and who do it according to the rules, the Commissioner said, citing the rescue at the weekend of dozens of migrants abandoned naked by Turkey at the river Evros.
For the EPP group in the European Parliament, it is essential that Frontex be able to continue its missions, which are crucial at a time when arrivals via the Western Balkans route are increasing, but it is clear that the “behaviour of the people involved is very worrying” and has “damaged the image of the agency”, commented Dutch MEP Jeroen Lenaers.
However, on 18 October, the MEP deplored the rejection of the discharge for the agency, which is “a political statement, a political game played by the forces in this house who do not like Frontex as an agency and who are allergic to border management in the first place”.
Birgit Sippel (S&D, German) said that after the OLAF report it is necessary to “recognise the extent of the problems”, but she still has not seen any major changes.
For Renew Europe, it is also essential to bear in mind that Frontex’s misconduct is not only linked to isolated individuals, but is “systemic”. Frontex must start afresh, said German MEP Jan-Christoph Oetjen.
This is also the opinion of The Left and the Greens/EFA, who note a “structural crisis of fundamental rights” at the EU’s external borders. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Léa Marchal)