Following a meeting of the civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee with the Chair of the Management Board of Frontex and the European Commission, S&D spokesperson Birgit Sippel said:

“The problems in Frontex do not end with the resignation of Fabrice Leggeri and our job now is to find out how deep the rotten roots go. The Commission and Management Board have underlined their wish for a new start, but show little willingness to address the underlying issues that have allowed the disastrous leadership in the last years. The resignation is not a get out of jail free card. Instead, we must continue to fully examine all allegations into misconduct and fundamental rights violations and we urge the Commission and Management Board to fully cooperate with this. As a first step to allow the Parliament to fulfil its role in terms of public scrutiny and democratic accountability, MEPs need to have full and uncensored access to OLAF’s report on Frontex. Only if we are aware of the full extent of the problems, which go further than Leggeri’s mismanagement, can we help to ensure Frontex eventually has the fresh start it needs under new leadership to fulfil its essential role.

“We expect the procedure for finding a suitable replacement will take considerable time, but the allegations of violations of human rights and pushbacks are still there, hanging over Frontex like a dark storm cloud. Our message today is if the Management Board wants to appoint an interim Executive Director and subsequently a permanent successor, the European Parliament must be significantly involved in these appointments. We need to maintain the same levels of public scrutiny and pressure to help restore the reputation of Frontex as a credible and trustworthy agency, only this time we want the Management Board to be a constructive partner in that task.”