The EU's border and coast guard agency, known as Frontex, has a budget of over €540 million for 2021. It's "the most important agency in the European Union", according to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs. But Frontex and its Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri are currently under fire over allegations its officers participated in illegal "pushbacks" of asylum seekers. Speaking to FRANCE 24, Leggeri insists there is "no evidence" of such action.
As the European anti-corruption agency OLAF investigates these claims, Fabrice Leggeri tells FRANCE 24 "there is no evidence that Frontex, or officers deployed by the member states under Frontex operations, have participated in or covered up any illegal pushbacks in the maritime domain".
The Agency is also facing criticism from the European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson for failing to hire 40 "Fundamental Rights" officers by a deadline of December 2020 – officers who are intended to monitor alleged rights abuses.
On the issue of monitoring, Leggeri says the hiring of these officers "was delayed because of lengthy legal discussions in 2020" and that the first 15 should be recruited this April.
Leggeri also pushed back against the suggestion that Frontex is expanding too quickly, stating that against the backdrop of the 2015-16 EU migration peaks, "the political response of the Commission at that time was to beef up the standing corps and I think that was the right decision".
Produced by Isabelle Romero, Mathilde Bénézet, Céline Schmitt and Perrine Desplats
