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The Social Democrats in the EU Parliament are calling for the resignation of Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri. The parliamentarians announced it in a statement. Shortly before, Leggeri had to answer in the European Parliament for the involvement of the border protection agency in illegal returns in the Aegean Sea.
Leggeri did not give any answer to the question of whether the agency is involved in illegal returns at the EU’s external border, according to a statement from the social-democratic group S&D after Leggeri was questioned before the internal committee of the EU Parliament.
“We have to ask ourselves how it got to the point where journalists and whistleblowers have to inform us about cases of violations of human and fundamental rights at our borders,” said Birgit Sippel MEP. “That is unacceptable and deeply concerning.” Leggeri’s position at the top of Frontex is no longer sustainable, said Kati Piri MEP. Through his handling of the allegations, Leggeri completely lost the trust of the group.
Leggeri sees no evidence of involvement in “pushback activities”
The head of Frontex had previously denied the involvement of his authority in the illegal rejections of refugees before the internal commission of the EU Parliament. No evidence was found that there was direct or indirect active participation by Frontex staff or officials deployed by Frontex in the so-called rollbacks, Leggeri said.
SPIEGEL’s investigation together with the media platforms Lighthouse Reports, Bellingcat, the ARD magazine “Report Mainz” and the Japanese television network TV Asahi had nevertheless revealed that Frontex had existed for at least six rejections since April. Frontex employees reported anonymously that internal reports were being embellished.
The Greens call for a commission of inquiry
According to Leggeris, the Greens in the European Parliament are also increasing the pressure. “It is very clear that the self-regulation of the EU agency does not work,” said German Green MEP Erik Marquardt. Despite the “overwhelming evidence”, Leggeri shows a lack of awareness of wrongdoing. The Greens are now demanding that the EU Parliament establish a commission of inquiry to shed light on the allegations.
To invalidate the SPIEGEL tests, Leggeri had already submitted an internal report to the Frontex Board of Directors on 10 November. In it, Leggeri confirms that Frontex units were in close proximity during the setbacks, but it cannot be conclusively assessed whether they were aware of the legal violations. Questions remained, such as visibility.
Frontex officials actually have to report illegal returns according to agency rules, but no relevant “serious incident reports” have been included, Leggeri says. Their conclusion: Since there are no such reports from crews, there is also no evidence of setbacks.
