Expansion of Frontex should only happen with stronger fundamental rights

Ska Keller, President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament and lead candidate in the European elections, comments:

"Too many parties and member states see Frontex as the tool to solve all problems and keep adding to the agency's staff and tasks without ever looking at its results. Border guards, no matter how many, will not prevent asylum requests, at least, if they do their job lawfully. Expanding Frontex cannot be a substitute for a missing asylum and migration policy. Rather than focussing all resources on Frontex, the EU and member states must finally make progress on the fair share of responsibility and get started on rescue at sea.

“As Greens/EFA, we insist that any expansian of Frontex mandate or staff must go hand in hand with a strengthened monitoring of fundamental rights. We have successfully insisted that the Fundamental Rights Officer at Frontex be given significantly more resources and enforcement capacities. Frontex must take responsibility for possible misconduct and violations of fundamental rights instead of transferring them to the EU Member States, a practice which has led again and again to no one taking responsibility for human rights violations. If Frontex is to take on more tasks in European border management, then the Border Management Agency must be held accountable.

"A red line for the Greens/EFA group is deportations by Frontex from third countries, such as Turkey, to other third countries such as Iran, or from Mali to Niger. We have succeeded in getting the European Parliament to reject such deportations because they harbour the danger of fundamental rights being undermined. The European Union cannot ensure in third countries that deportation decisions are taken in accordance with European legal standards and that the deportees are not at risk."