European elections in June
Former Frontex boss runs for Le Pen’s party
February 18, 2024, 12:28 a.m
The former head of the EU border protection agency Frontex is drawn to politics. Fabrice Leggeri is running for the Rassemblement National party in the European elections. He had to resign from his previous position because of alleged human rights violations.
The former head of the EU border protection agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, has joined the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) party in France. Leggeri announced on Saturday that he was running on the RN list for the European elections in June. The party has “a concrete plan and the capacity to implement it,” the 55-year-old told the Sunday newspaper “Journal du Dimanche”. His main concern is to “combat the flood of migration”.
The top official Leggeri was at the top of Frontex from 2015 to April 2022. The reason for his resignation were reports of human rights violations at the EU’s external borders and investigations by the anti-fraud agency OLAF. Leggeri was accused of covering up so-called pushbacks by the Greek coast guard, i.e. illegal rejections of asylum seekers. These are illegal according to international law.
“My goal is to put my experience and expertise at the service of the French,” Leggeri wrote about his candidacy for the European Parliament on X. “After leading Frontex for almost seven years and working for the state for around 30 years, “This decision is only logical, especially in the areas of security and migration management,” he added.