MEPs Refuse to Sign Off 2020 Budget for Frontex
According to the announcement of the European Parliament, the approval of the management by Frontex of its budget has been withheld by the Parliament, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
MEPs have stressed that the main reason for such a decision comes after the agency has often been criticized for illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers who attempt to reach EU countries and for failing to protect migrants’ human rights, including in the recent investigation provided by the EU’s anti-fraud watchdog OLAF.
In this regard, the rapporteur Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP, CZ) said that “Frontex operates in challenging circumstances and with its enhanced role comes the need for effective management and greater accountability.
“Though the Agency has made progress in the last year, we currently do not have enough information to make a well-informed decision to grant a discharge. We, therefore, postpone this decision to autumn 2022,” Zdechovský pointed out.
According to the Belgian Member of the European Parliament, Saskia Bricmont, the resignation of the head of Frontex does not address structural problems.
At the same time, the Executive Management of the agency said its staff strongly supported the bloc’s countries in managing the border situation after the influx of migrants due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In these turbulent times, Europe needs the European Border and Coast guard Agency, it needs us, and we must be strong and resilient. As a civil service, our job is to comply with legislation, live up to expectations, and uphold European Union values,” the statement published by the agency.
The European Union Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, has often been in the spotlight of many media reports after speculating that the same was involved in several illegal affairs.
As per the finding of OLAF’s report, the former Executive Director of Frontex Leggeri pointed out:
“I give my mandate back to the management board as it seems that the Frontex mandate on which I have been elected and renewed in June 2019 has silently but effectively been changed,” Leggeri pointed out, according to the Guardian.
Recently it was reported that Swiss citizens would decide on May 15 on whether the country’s contributions to the agency should be increased or not.
In this regard, Switzerland’s Green Party Member of Parliament, Tiana Moser, backed the idea that the country’s contributions to Frontex should increase; otherwise, she said, Switzerland risks leaving the borderless area of Schengen.
