Status: 04/29/2022 2:01 p.m
According to media reports, the head of the EU border protection agency Frontex is ready to resign. Leggeri had come under criticism for possible illegal pushbacks by those seeking protection in the Mediterranean.
The head of the EU border protection agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, has offered his resignation. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed this in Berlin. The agency’s board of directors now wants to deal with the case.
The Federal Government welcomes the offered withdrawal. This gives the opportunity for a fresh start at Frontex and to fully clarify allegations and ensure that all agency operations are carried out in full compliance with European law, said the spokesman. That is the clear expectation of the federal government. Germany has a seat on the Frontex board of directors.
The “Spiegel” had previously reported that Leggeri had approached the chairman of the board of directors with his resignation. In the letter, he asked for his resignation to be accepted and thanked him for the “invaluable experience” he had at Frontex. There was initially no official comment.
Reports of illegal pushbacks
The Frenchman Leggeri had come under pressure in connection with reports of human rights violations by Frontex at the EU’s external borders. The media had reported on illegal pushbacks of people seeking protection in the Aegean, in which Frontex is said to be involved. According to this, executives of the authority are said to have deliberately covered up the fact that Greek border guards were bringing refugees back to the open Mediterranean Sea.
Leggeri had “tried to cover up the pushbacks for months,” according to the “Spiegel”. To date, he has not admitted any breaches of the law. Rejecting people seeking protection at the external borders is illegal under international law.
Sea Watch: Resignation overdue
The German aid organization Sea Watch, which works to save boat people in the Mediterranean, called Leggeri’s resignation “overdue but not sufficient.” The border protection agency is “systematically breaking human rights” and is a “symbol of deadly European isolation”. It must therefore be abolished.
MEP Cornelia Ernst from the Left Party also welcomed the resignation. Leggeri was “actively involved in Frontex’s complicity in violating fundamental rights and covering them up,” she explained in Brussels. Ernst is a member of a committee of inquiry that has been pushing for clarification for a long time.
EU Commission defends Frontex
Spokesmen for the EU Commission in Brussels rejected the calls for a dissolution of Frontex. The agency fulfills a central role by supporting the member states in protecting the external borders and “at the same time upholding fundamental rights”. For this, however, Frontex must be stable and function well.