Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Ylva Johansson
Language: EN

Unfortunately, we have seen increased threats over the past months at parts of the European external borders. I welcome the swift response by Frontex following Lukashenko’s aggression, the deployment at the EU external border with Belarus in Lithuania, but also partly in Latvia. This is Frontex’s task: to offer technical and operational assistance, taking the unfolding communitarian emergency into account. But integrated external-border management is much more than managing irregular migration. It’s also about fighting human trafficking, trafficking of drugs, firearms and cross-border organised crime. To achieve this, Frontex must be a robust and well-functioning agency with the right governance and control systems in place, and it must have the right processes and staff at its disposal to uphold fundamental rights. So I welcome the work of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Frontex scrutiny group. Its report gives important recommendations. As I told the executive director, these need to be implemented, monitored and followed up. Reports from the Court of Auditors, the EU Ombudsman and the Frontex management board’s own working group on fundamental rights also identify significant shortcomings in the agency’s governance. And the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, is conducting an investigation, and we are awaiting its report. Frontex must take action. This has been the position of the Commission from day one. You, from Parliament, also asked the Commission to step up, and this is what we have done. We closely follow up and monitor the implementation of your recommendations, also by using our two seats on the Frontex management board alongside all the Member States. The Commission initiated several extraordinary management board meetings dedicated to governance issues and allegations of fundamental rights violations, and we had regular high-level meetings between the Commission and Frontex on strategic matters. We provide continuous support and guidance to the agency, and now we can see the agency is taking action. The agency is implementing your recommendations on transparency, fundamental rights, budget and recruitment. In May, Frontex established a transparency register concerning procurements and tenders. All meetings and contacts of the executive director and senior management must be registered. In your first report, you demanded an action plan to implement Frontex’s new fundamental rights strategy. The action plan will be adopted in the coming days. The action plan is a fundamental rights framework for all the border guards. It will help border guards to respect and defend fundamental rights in their daily work, ensuring European integrated border management. It’s good news that today, Frontex will appoint three deputy executive directors, as both Commission and Parliament have insisted. They have clear areas of responsibilities: returns, standing course and information management. They must be able to fully perform their tasks and duties based on clear internal reporting lines. The new fundamental rights officer took up his duties in June this year. The first 20 fundamental rights monitors have been trained and are ready for duty. The management board adopted rules guaranteeing their independence. Important parts of the fundamental rights monitoring systems are now set up, but we need all parts in place for the machine to function. Frontex must also appoint the remaining 20 fundamental rights monitors quickly. Frontex published a vacancy notice last week for recruitment at AD level, as Parliament requested. We will support the agency to complete hiring by the beginning of next year. It has also to be clear in detail how and when Frontex suspends or terminates its operations. No EU body should ever find itself in a situation where it is involved in operations in violation of fundamental rights or international obligations. That’s why this House demanded clear procedures for Article 46 of the EBCG regulation. This is still a work in progress. Important discussions are still taking place in the management board. The agency still has enormous tasks and challenges ahead. Belarus, Afghanistan, unexpected geopolitical developments we are witnessing. To meet these challenges, the agency must function smoothly as a whole. All the pieces of the puzzle need to fit closely together. That’s why Frontex needs a strong and robust governance framework, based on transparency and accountability. So Frontex can do best what all of us want: to have a strong and operational European presence at Europe’s border; to support and advise; to be our eyes and ears; to help Member States to protect the European Union borders and the European Union’s fundamental rights. Your reports have made clear what needs to be done, and they have had a strong impact. They have been followed up by action. It’s clear Frontex has made progress on implementing your recommendations. It’s also clear more needs to be done. The Commission will continue to support the agencies to carry out your recommendations. You can count on that.