Published : 01-08-2022
Europe’s border agency Frontex routinely covered up illegal “pushbacks” of migrants by the Greek coastguard, media reports said Thursday (28 July), citing a leaked internal review.
A 129-page investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) found that Frontex, under former executive director Fabrice Leggeri, was complicit in Greek efforts to force migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the Aegean Sea to return to Turkey, German magazine Der Spiegel wrote.
The confidential report was also seen by France’s Le Monde newspaper and investigative outfit Lighthouse Reports. It follows repeated allegations by aid groups that Frontex was turning a blind eye to Greek human rights violations at sea.
“Instead of preventing the pushbacks, Leggeri and his people covered them up. They lied to the EU Parliament and concealed the fact that the agency even supported some pushbacks with European taxpayers’ money,” Der Spiegel wrote.
The OLAF review found that at least six pushbacks involved Greek coastguard ships that had been co-financed by Frontex, the magazine said.
In one incident in August 2020, Frontex Surveillance Aircraft filmed the Greek coastguard towing a dinghy with around 30 migrants on board towards Turkish waters — when they should have been taken to Greece.
Instead of confronting Greek authorities, Frontex stopped patrolling the Aegean by air, saying the planes were needed elsewhere, Der Spiegel wrote.
A hand-written note found later by OLAF investigators said that Frontex management withdrew the aircraft “so as not to become a witness” to Greece’s illegal actions.
Europe’s border agency Frontex routinely covered up illegal “pushbacks” of migrants by the Greek coastguard, media reports said Thursday (28 July), citing a leaked internal review.
A 129-page investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) found that Frontex, under former executive director Fabrice Leggeri, was complicit in Greek efforts to force migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the Aegean Sea to return to Turkey, German magazine Der Spiegel wrote.
The confidential report was also seen by France’s Le Monde newspaper and investigative outfit Lighthouse Reports. It follows repeated allegations by aid groups that Frontex was turning a blind eye to Greek human rights violations at sea.
“Instead of preventing the pushbacks, Leggeri and his people covered them up. They lied to the EU Parliament and concealed the fact that the agency even supported some pushbacks with European taxpayers’ money,” Der Spiegel wrote.
The OLAF review found that at least six pushbacks involved Greek coastguard ships that had been co-financed by Frontex, the magazine said.
In one incident in August 2020, Frontex Surveillance Aircraft filmed the Greek coastguard towing a dinghy with around 30 migrants on board towards Turkish waters — when they should have been taken to Greece.
Instead of confronting Greek authorities, Frontex stopped patrolling the Aegean by air, saying the planes were needed elsewhere, Der Spiegel wrote.
A hand-written note found later by OLAF investigators said that Frontex management withdrew the aircraft “so as not to become a witness” to Greece’s illegal actions.
