The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) quiz Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director of Frontex, over allegations that the agency’s staff were involved in pushbacks of asylum-seekers by Greek border guards, in the European Parliament in Brussels. Media revelations about the pushbacks led to a Frontex internal inquiry.

Recent allegations on pushbacks during Frontex operations in the Eastern Mediterranean: extracts from the presentation by Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director, Frontex

SOUNDBITE (English), Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director, Frontex, In the six cases that were reported by media on the 23rd of October, I am referring to the Spiegel, ARD and the media participating with this group. In fact, we have based on the report that was shared, we have not found evidence that there were active, direct or indirect participation of Frontex staff or officers deployed by Frontex in pushbacks during either Posseidon or rapid border intervention agent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director, Frontex, (This explanation is regarding the incident that occurred on the night between 18th and 19th of April) And we detected suspicious situations so we could see suspicious movements, unusual movements, migrants, Turkish vessel, Hellenic Coast Guard vessels. We were not participating at sea in this. So there was no maritime assets deployed by Frontex there. But, thanks to the fact that Frontex planes the once we lease directly have live-streaming possibility, we could spot this.

SOUNDBITE (English), Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director, Frontex, (This explanation is regarding the incident that occurred on the night between 18th and 19th of April) I decided to escalate this suspicious case that responded to the Greek minister in charge of maritime affairs. The letter, my letter was signed on the 8th of May and his reply was dated 10th of July. I escalated because there was a very strange situation, suspicion that perhaps something was wrong regarding fundamental rights, but also that perhaps something was wrong regarding the security or a military incident that was ongoing.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kati PIRI (S&amp;D, NL), Pushbacks obviously happened in front of your own officers. A clear example is the Greek pushback on the 19th of April, which was detected by a Frontex aircraft. This happened during a Frontex operation. Now, in your view, is it sufficient to send a letter to the Greek authorities and believe them when they say all is fine, when actually you have the obligation to terminate any activity of the agency, if the conditions to conduct those activities are no longer fulfilled.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN&apos;T VELD (RE, NL), I'm beginning to wonder how you see your own responsibility. We are talking about human rights violations, but pushbacks about people, you know, at gunpoint. And we get from you a legal interpretation whether or not there was a transgression and who was responsible. I think even as a European citizen, you are responsible to take action.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tineke STRIK (Greens/EFA, NL), We must be able to rely on an EU agency which prevents human rights violations from happening and not inflict them. But Frontex seems to be a partner in crime of those who deliberately violate those human rights.

SOUNDBITE (French), Nathalie COLIN-OESTERL&#201; (EPP, FR), And finally, there's violence on the Greek-Turkish border, tear gas, rocket launchers, have been carried out from Turkey. And also there have been destabilisation efforts on land, at sea, and in the air. These are genuine threats. How is Frontex prepared for that? And do you have the resources necessary to apply a zero-tolerance policy?

SOUNDBITE (English), Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director, Frontex, When it comes to the legal framework. I hear that some of the members of the parliament say they are pushbacks, but they are questions about interception, search and rescue is not a question. When there is a search and rescue case or when a search and rescue situation is declared, either because there is a call or because the coordination centre or the coast guard say that this is a search and rescue, then, of course, its search and rescue and nothing else.

Recent allegations on pushbacks during Frontex operations in the Eastern Mediterranean: extracts from the presentation by Fabrice LEGGERI, Executive Director, Frontex

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LIBE - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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