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Once again, Frontex and the Greek Coast Guard remain exposed to illegal operations to repatriate refugees to the Aegean, which appear to have been completely undercover.
Both the German magazine Spiegel and the New York Times present documents documenting a minute-by-minute operation to repatriate refugees to Turkey on the night of April 18-19, as well as other interception or repatriation operations that were filed but not considered. that need more research. .
Following dozens of foreign media reports, it appears that the European Border and Coast Guard, as is Frontex’s full name, not only ignored these violations at Europe’s borders, but covered them up.
The incident – “fire”
The detailed record of the repatriation, from April 18 to 19, uses images and reports from a Frontex aerial surveillance aircraft operating off Lesbos.
The incident lasted more than 5 hours during the night and unfolded as follows: the Greek authorities located an inflatable boat with about 20 refugees. Initially, the Greek Coast Guard ship apparently rescues these people, allowing them to board.
Wow … a surprising minute-by-minute account of a #push back in the Aegean by the Greek coast guard. Recorded by @frontex themselves. Migration minister@nmitarakisand Frontex boss Leggeri have a lot to explain. Detailed report in@mirrorsoon… pic.twitter.com/DgyT97SoGm
– Giorgos Christides (@g_christides) November 26, 2020
However, later, after the Greek Coast Guard ensured that there was no Turkish Coast Guard ship nearby, it forced the refugees to board their ship again and tow it to Turkish waters, where they abandoned it.
In fact, the coast guards ask the Frontex aircraft to change course and leave the place, without justifying the request, which is not accepted.
Even more outrageous than the rollback incident itself is the fact that Frontex practically silenced the internal report on it, despite the fact that repatriation violates international law.
According to Spiegel, the documents reveal that Frontex chief Fabrice Letzeri was informed of the crime no later than May 8, when he sent a letter to the Greek government that day. 
In July, it did not report the incident to the European Parliament, and a few weeks later wrote in an internal letter that it was “under investigation by the Greek authorities” and that Frontex could not comment further.
As the German magazine always reports, the head of Frontex spoke with the Greek minister of maritime transport, Giannis Plakiotakis, about the aforementioned incident. And it was only on September 16 that Ledgery reported to the Frontex fundraiser. By then, the case was already on file.
“Everything shows that Ledger wanted to cover up the illegal business registered for his own service or at least wanted to demote it,” says Spiegel. Next Tuesday, Mr Letzeri has been invited to attend a meeting of the Civil Liberties Commission of the European Parliament (LIBE).
Details are set out in Frontex Serious Incident Report 11095/2020, which is included in a Frontex written response to questions from the European Commission and Member States, following an extraordinary meeting of the Management Board, following serious disclosures from Lighthouse Reports, Bellingcat, Spiegel. , ARD and Asahi TV that documented the involvement or tolerance of the European border guard in at least five illegal operations to repatriate the Greek Coast Guard in the Aegean.
“Table tennis” with human lives
Another cover-up incident came to light recently, during the extraordinary meeting of the Frontex Board of Directors on 10 November.
The Swedish representative gave information that the Swedish Frontex crew witnessed an operation to repatriate the Greek Coast Guard on 30 October, off Chios. According to documents cited by the New York Times, a Frontex official advised the Swedish crew not to report the incident. 
Other documents record the endless “ping-pong” of refugees between Greece and Turkey, with Frontex being only an observer.
Four officials familiar with the Frontex operation told the NYT anonymously that duty officials were asking crews not to report deportation incidents. Other times, in cooperation with the Greek authorities, they have stopped reporting “serious incidents”.
At a disadvantage
This year’s revelations that Frontex is simply watching setbacks in the Greek islands have sparked a crisis in service, a crisis that threatens the European ideal, as the EU is called upon to answer the question of whether it will abide by its laws. towards refugees.
The European Union has set itself the objective of strengthening the protection of its external borders. Frontex is the best-funded service in the EU: its budget is around 460 million euros and in 2021 it could amount to one billion euros. 
However, of that amount, only $ 1 million went to Frontex’s oversight of rights oversight, which was supposed to have 40 additional employees by December 10. The announcements for these positions have not yet been published.
Its aim is to assist in refugee rescue operations, but also to act as a deterrent to the massive influx of refugees. However, Frontex does not have the power to prevent national guards and border guards from violating international law.
Frontex denies everything
The European Commission requested a special investigation into the accusations of rejections and an extraordinary meeting took place on 10 November. Frontex sent its explanations after four days.
The agency promised to investigate the matter internally, but also denied the allegations. Regarding the incident with the Swedish crew, he states that he has no evidence that it happened.
The Frontex CEO always has the same answer ready: the relaunch accusations are based solely on media reports. Recently, he even claimed that the Greek government has removed its suspicions of possible crimes at our maritime borders.
Furthermore, the Greek government, through Messrs. Plakiotaki and Mitaraki – has repeatedly denied having carried out any relaunch.
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