The European Parliament refused on Tuesday to validate the 2020 accounts of the border surveillance agency Frontex, in a sign of disavowal of this organization, accused of having concealed the refoulement of migrants in the Aegean Sea. After postponing their decision in May, MEPs decided, after a tight vote in Strasbourg, not to grant discharge for the budget of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for 2020.
The budgetary discharge is a procedure by which the European Parliament closes a budgetary year and controls the expenditure of public funds. This vote has no consequences on the activity of the agency, but is a way for the European Parliament to express its disagreement with the past activity of Frontex.
“clear signal”
The agency was implicated in 2020, in several journalistic investigations and in a report by the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf), for its role in the illegal return of migrants by the Greek coast guard. “This does not change the past, but it sends a clear signal in favor of action and change”, summed up Belgian environmentalist MEP Philippe Lamberts, calling on the European Commission for “determined action to put a definitive end to these inhuman treatment” of migrants.
The disputed boss of the agency, the French Fabrice Leggeri, resigned at the end of April, following the investigation by Olaf which particularly targeted him and two other members of the executive council. This confidential report, which has just been unveiled in full but anonymized by the German magazine Der Spiegel in collaboration with investigative websites, concerns “serious misconduct and other irregularities” by the management of Frontex at the time.
“To assume their responsibilities”
He accuses him of having “participated in or covered up pushbacks” of migrants in Greek waters, but also of poor management, with situations of conflicts of interest and cases of harassment. “These are practices of the past,” Frontex reacted in a statement on Friday. “I am aware that reading the (Olaf’s) report will have shocked many of you, as it shocked me, but I am convinced that the Frontex board of directors has fully assumed its responsibilities and very effectively,” Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told MEPs, hoping for a new Frontex director to be appointed by the end of the year.
Frontex, whose mandate was strengthened in 2019, is the EU agency with the biggest budget. It has continued to increase in recent years, amounting in 2020 to around 360 million euros and to more than 750 million euros in 2022. MEPs also refused to validate the accounts of the Council of the EU, as they have done for more than ten years to stigmatize the lack of cooperation of this institution.