This is no surprise to anyone. But the news made the effect of a thunderclap. Because it creates an unprecedented bridge between the senior European civil service and the far right. Four months before the renewal of Parliament, the former director of Frontex, the European coast guard and border guard agency, formalized his candidacy as number three on the European list of the National Rally (RN). “This is the useful answer to put France and Europe back on the right track”, declared Fabrice Leggeri, questioned about his approach during his first trip, Monday February 19, to the Alpes-Maritimes, alongside the president of the far-right party, Jordan Bardella. An express trip to a CRS barracks, in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, then to the Italian border, in Menton.
A major war for the RN, the man who was director general of Frontex between November 2014 and April 2022 had long been fomenting his rebound as much as his political revenge after being pushed to resign. In the days following his departure from the Warsaw-based agency, Mr. Leggeri was seen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, with elected representatives from Les Républicains (LR) and RN. Officially, he had returned to his original administration, the Ministry of the Interior, as project manager. But “it was complicated to useexplains an executive from Place Beauvau. Given what he was accused of, it was not possible to give him too exposed functions”.
In January, Mr. Leggeri finally requested availability, “officially to create your consulting company”. On the social network LinkedIn, he still says “available to make a difference and offer [ses] good results as a large-scale change manager ».
But Fabrice Leggeri, 55, makes no secret of the resentments that weigh on him. “Because I wanted to protect Europe from migratory overwhelm, for more than two years, I suffered pressure from the European Commission and NGOs”he said in a video posted online by the RN to announce his candidacy. “I can testify that tools like Frontex (…) have been misdirected by the Commission to become a kind of super NGO”he told the press again on Monday.
“He had an aversion to fundamental rights, but to claim that Frontex organizes immigration the way it does is disinformation”reacts Dutch MEP from the environmentalist left, Tineke Strik.
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