Frontex : MEPs conclude their visit to the Border Agency
Civil Liberties Committee delegation participated in the Frontex management board meeting and met with the Executive director Hans Leijtens.
A delegation of the Civil Liberties Committee composed of Lena Düpont (EPP, Germany), Head of the Delegation, Theresa Bielowski (S&D, Austria) and Erik Marquardt (Greens, Germany), has visited Frontex agency in Warsaw from 19 to 20 June.
On Monday, the delegation held a bilateral meeting with Hans Leijtens, Frontex Executive Director, as well as participated in a plenary meeting on the Agency’s activities with senior officials. The discussions focused on the operational situation and response, the standing corps build-up, fundamental rights concerns and management and budgetary challenges. The delegation visited the Frontex Operational Coordination Centre and Situation Centre.
On Tuesday MEPs attended the 95th Frontex Management Board meeting. They had a working lunch with Jonas Grimheden, Fundamental Rights Officer, Julia Antonova, Associate Data Protection Officer, and the Consultative Forum Chair Luca Curci, during which the Agency’s response to fundamental rights concerns in various geographical contexts, including the recent dramatic shipwreck in Greece, was discussed.
After the visit, the Head of the Delegation Lena Düpont (EPP, Germany) made a following statement :
"Our working visit to Frontex allowed us to gain a better understanding of the manifold transition the agency is currently going through. We laid a special focus on the implementation of the recommendations that the European Parliament addressed to the agency, and of the role that Frontex plays in managing the external borders and in assisting in search and rescue operations within the legal framework underpinning such activities.
We also had a frank and open discussion about the recent events in the Mediterranean leading to the tragic death of over 500 people. We appreciate the common will, proactively shared by the management, to shed light on these events and the responsibilities leading up to this umpteenth tragedy. Together with the new management we want Frontex to continue on its path towards an efficient border management, to be transparent and to uphold fundamental rights standards in its activities and at our common European borders. This ongoing process we want to ensure through a continuous and constructive dialogue between the Agency and the European Parliament.
Furthermore we discussed a number of other important tasks Frontex is currently working on such as the setting up of the standing corps, the implementation of the two large scale IT systems ETIAS and EES, the fight against cross-border crime and uncertainties caused by the Russian war against Ukraine. These issues and the fast growth of the agency also need the attention of the European Parliament.
On behalf of the delegation I would like to thank Mr. Leitjens and his team for the warm welcome and the open and insightful discussions."
Background
Civil Liberties Committee Working Group on Frontex Scrutiny (FSWG), Chaired by Lena Düpont (EPP, DE) has been created following a decision by the Civil Liberties committee coordinators on 29 January 2021. In July 2021, the FSWG finished a 4 month fact-finding investigation about the alleged fundamental rights violations in the work of the border agency. The report, drafted by Tineke STRIK (Greens, NL), was discussed in the Civil Liberties Committee. The committee is currently working on a resolution on Frontex building on the fact-finding investigation of the LIBE Working Group for Frontex Scrutiny.
Contacts:
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Polona TEDESKO
Press Officer