According to media reports, the head of the European border protection agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, is ready to step down. According to information from the magazine “Spiegel”, this stems from a letter from the French to the authority’s board of directors.
Leggeri offered his resignation. The magazine “Politico” also reported on this from Brussels. Initially there was no official comment.
Frontex has long been criticized for rejecting migrants illegally in the Mediterranean. According to this, the authority’s executives would have deliberately covered up the fact that Greek border guards were bringing refugees back to the open Mediterranean Sea. Rejections by people seeking protection at external borders – so-called pushbacks – are illegal under international law. Frontex is based in Warsaw.
SP-EU MP Bettina Vollath welcomes the resignation of Frontex chief: “It was long overdue. Frontex was demonstrably involved in law violations at the EU’s external borders,” writes Styrian in a broadcast.
“During his seven years in office, Fabrice Leggeri did not demonstrate the necessary sensitivity that the management of such a sensitive agency would have required. Frontex’s internal database shows that only between March 2020 and September 2021, Frontex was involved in at least 957 people.”