Fabrice Leggeri, director of the EU border service Frontex, became the top leader when he resigned on Friday, following the release of the initial findings of an EU anti-fraud investigation. However, an EU official said the Frenchman, who has led the service since 2015, is not the only senior official to resign, Politico reported. Frontex’s budget has skyrocketed in recent years as the bloc struggles to curb the flow of migrants across its borders. It became arguably the EU’s first armed and uniformed force, with a plan to deploy 10,000 guards to patrol the bloc’s borders in the coming years. However, it has come under increasing scrutiny for its alleged involvement in “repulsions” at the EU’s borders – deterring migrants at the EU’s borders. There are also allegations of harassment and misconduct within the organization itself. The Frontex board convened an emergency meeting Thursday and Friday to discuss the allegations against Mr. Legger and two other unnamed Frontex executives. At that meeting, Legeri – who has previously denied the allegations – allegedly complained that EU countries were trying to turn Frontex into an NGO. But it has failed to win the support of key Member States. The EU anti-fraud service OLAF launched an investigation into allegations of human rights abuses by Frontex last year. The report was not released but Erik Marquardt, a German Member of the European Parliament, said the summary “reveals that the Frontex management was aware of the human rights violations and deliberately avoided denouncing them”.
