Breaking Laws at the Borders
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Dumped in the Aegean Sea: refugees on an inflatable rescue raft [M] Lea Rossa / DER SPIEGEL; Fotos: Emrah Gurel / AP; European Anti-Fraud Office |
At the same time, the OLAF report shows how Frontex, the European border agency, has been complicit in these egregious human rights violations.
- In repeat incidents, Frontex management withheld cases of possible human rights violations from its own fundamental rights officer.
- The agency suspended its aerial surveillance to stop recording violations of the law.
- It co-financed some of the Greek units that carried out the pushbacks.
- According to the report, it misled the bodies that are responsible for overseeing the agency.
- And although it should be clear after reading the report that the pushbacks were of a "serious nature or are likely to persist," Frontex did not terminate the joint operations as stipulated by Article 46 of the agency's regulations.
You can download the full report here.
Thus far, access to the report has been restricted to very few people, including representatives of the European Commission, the Frontex Management Board, some members of the European Parliament and OLAF itself. DER SPIEGEL, together with Lighthouse Reports, first reported on the report's contents in July (read more about the allegations here). Today, DER SPIEGEL, together with FragDenStaat, a German website focused on the publication of government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, is publishing the OLAF report. The report is of great public interest in that it provides the best foundations yet for Europeans to debate how asylum-seekers should be treated at their borders.
A Lawsuit Against Frontex's Interim Head
The secrecy surrounding the report serves primarily to prevent such a debate from taking place. To this day, leading Greek officials claim they haven't read the report. European Commissioner Margaritis Schinas of Greece, whose portfolio includes migration, won't say whether he has informed himself of the serious allegations. And Aija Kalnaja, Frontex's interim executive director, continues to pretend, unchallenged to this day, that her agency has followed all the rules. "We would like to reiterate that Frontex's actions in the Aegean Sea region had been carried out in compliance with the applicable legal framework," the agency stated last week.
But that version of events doesn't jibe with the contents of the report from the OLAF investigation.
Some experts, including lawyer Laura Salzano, argue that the European Union should release the report publicly – in part so that victims of the pushbacks can use the findings in court. And it is quite possible that will happen soon. Lawyers with the NGO front-LEX have already filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice based on the report's findings.
IIn recent years, Frontex's annual budget has grown from an initial 6 million euros to 754 million euros. Budget discussions are currently taking place in closed meetings to determine how many millions more the agency will receive in 2023.
The question in the coming years will be whether taxpayer money will continue to be used to help break the law at the EU's borders – or whether Frontex will be forced to comply with European law. The Schengen states, which control Frontex through the Management Board, apparently have little interest in such compliance. They meet behind closed doors, and little is known about their discussions. Much will therefore depend on whether some sort of European public sphere develops to address Frontex activities and helps control the agency.
