Tuesday

21st Mar 2023

Frontex left 'traumatised' says caretaking leadership

Listen to article

Some staff at the EU's border police agency Frontex refuse to go to work because of its poor reputation on rights abuse, said its caretaking chief, Aija Kalnaja.

"The agency is and was traumatised," Kalnaja told European lawmakers on Monday (30 May).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"And being absolutely honest to this house, some refuse to come to the agency because of its reputation," she said.

The comments come after the recent shock resignation of Fabrice Leggeri, who had headed the Warsaw-based agency since 2015.

Leggeri had courted controversy over the years following numerous reports of illegal pushbacks along the external borders of the European Union.

Olaf, the EU's anti-fraud office, had also launched a probe recommending disciplinary measures be taken against Leggeri and two additional senior Frontex leaders.

He resigned amid claims that the agency's mandate had been surreptitiously changed, suggesting it was being turned into "a fundamental rights body."

The European Commission had denied it and now so too has Kalnaja.

"Nothing has changed with the mandate, we just have to implement it," she said.

With Leggeri gone, Frontex is now looking for new permanent leadership.

Kalnaja has since stepped into the role as a caretaker until someone else is recruited.

She has promised to make the agency more transparent and accountable and compliant with fundamental rights.

This includes having all 40 fundamental rights monitors in place by the end of November, she said.

She said their recommendations also needed to be acted on, including those made by the consultative forum.

The forum is composed of civil advocacy groups that provide the agency with advice on rights issues.

"We need transparency. Also the agency needs transparency. Mismanagement within the agency simply cannot happen. It cannot continue," she said.

Kalnaja also said that the agency requires a change in culture. The admission suggests that the issues pertaining to fundamental rights are not taken seriously.

"A change of culture will not happen in one day. Neither in the agency nor in the EU," she said.

She would not say whether the agency would withdraw from Greece, where numerous pushbacks have been reported over the years.

"I can say many things today here, but it doesn't matter what I say. What matters is what we deliver," she said.

Similar issues on Frontex are set to be discussed by EU ministers on 10 June at a so-called "Schengen Council".

Frontex is set to have some 10,000 armed border guards by 2027. But its annual recruitment targets are not being met.

The agency was supposed to have recruited 6,500 staff, including short-term contracts, by the end of last year.

It found 5,900, according to an internal EU document from the French EU presidency.

By mid-May, it had recruited 835 permanent staff when its target was 1,000.

It currently has some 1,800 standing corps officers in 18 operations in more than 200 locations.

This comes at a time when the agency is intensifying cooperation with countries like Nigeria, Senegal, and Mauritania. It is also in talks with Morocco.

It is stepping up returns of people and has sent home over 8,000 so far this year, a 40 percent increase when compared to the same period last year.

Frontex chief tenders resignation

Fabrice Leggeri took on the role of the executive director of #Frontex in 2015. He posted a resignation letter earlier this week. Another senior official, Thibauld de la Haye Jousselin, may also have resigned.

Frontex ends Lithuania border surveillance operation

The agency is suspending border surveillance operations in Lithuania. It also wants to reverse a rule which requires it to suspend operations in EU states where violations take place — and instead send in more agents.

Frontex keeps return operations in Hungary secret

Frontex won't reveal how it complies with rights when it returns rejected asylum seekers from Hungary. The Warsaw-based agency had suspended other operations in Hungary after the EU court in 2020 told Budapest to stop abusing migrants.

Frontex caretaker leader could face EU court

Lawyers at front-LEX, a Dutch-based civil society organisation, are threatening legal action against EU border agency Frontex unless it suspends operations in Greece.

Opinion

EU migration policy will turn Greece into the jail of Europe

Europe is stepping back from its core values of human dignity, human rights and the rule of law, which have been the building blocks of the political edifice of the EU, writes Kostas Arvanitis MEP of Syriza/The Left.

Feature

The rotten truth behind Menton, 'the pearl of France'

At least 100 migrants are brought to the French Border Police facility in the town of Menton every day — often kept for hours in inhumane conditions and eventually expelled under procedures that contradict European and international law.

Latest News

  1. Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown
  2. When geopolitics trump human rights, we are all losers
  3. EU starts talks on 11th round of Russia sanctions
  4. EU fears Tunisia turmoil will spark migrant boat departures
  5. 'Symbolic' Putin indictment gets some EU backing
  6. 'Final warning' to act on climate change, warns IPCC
  7. 'No one is unemployable': the French social experiment
  8. Why can't we stop marches glorifying Nazism on EU streets?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us