Living in Europe, we benefit from the fundamental rights and values enshrined in the Treaty on European Union. But these fundamental rights also need to be upheld for those coming from outside the Union. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency is responsible for protecting the EU’s external borders, and the 2019 Frontex Regulation expanded its tasks, powers, responsibilities and budget. The regulation also included stronger fundamental rights safeguards and increased accountability and liability, in particular in terms of Frontex staff exercising their executive powers.
However, in recent years Frontex has been accused of failing to comply with some of these obligations – and its own rules on the use of force. The agency has allegedly delayed implementing new obligations, for instance on recruiting fundamental rights monitors. Among a number of concerns, the accusations that generated most public disapproval were those regarding fundamental rights violations by EU Member States’ authorities at the EU’s external borders, and possible Frontex involvement, relating for instance to collective expulsions – known as ‘pushbacks’.
Parliament is the key player in terms of democratic oversight of the agency. In addition to endorsing the agency’s budget, Parliament can ask Frontex for information, plays a key role in appointing the executive director, and can send an expert to attend Frontex management board meetings. Parliament, and its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), have closely monitored the alleged violations of fundamental rights at the EU’s external borders and Frontex’s possible involvement. Parliament addressed several questions to the European Commission on the subject, and called on the executive director to appear before the LIBE committee to answer Members’ questions. Parliament also postponed discharge of Frontex’s accounts for the 2019 and 2020 financial years.
In January 2021, Parliament formed the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group (FSWG), to monitor all aspects of the agency’s functioning. The FSWG presented its final report in July 2021. Although the scrutiny group did not find evidence of pushbacks, the report clearly pointed to serious shortcomings. In April 2022, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri resigned with immediate effect. Hans Leijtens, Parliament’s preferred candidate, was then appointed in December 2022, and promised to restore confidence in the agency and provide full transparency.
Most of the FSWG’s recommendations have now been implemented. These included: improved budgetary and financial management; a stronger Fundamental Rights Office and a revised serious incident reporting mechanism; greater transparency; a change in management culture; and prioritisation of staff wellbeing. In a recent resolution, Parliament acknowledged the efforts made, but insisted on full implementation of the outstanding recommendations. As a result of Parliament’s oversight and scrutiny efforts, Frontex is addressing inefficiencies and the allegations of fundamental rights violations. Parliament’s powers fall broadly into six, often overlapping, domains: law-making, the budget, scrutiny of the executive, external relations, and, to a lesser extent, constitutional affairs and agenda-setting. This graphic shows more examples of areas where Parliament used one or more of its different powers to influence legislation:
For a fuller picture of the European Parliament’s activity over the past five years, take a look at our publication Examples of Parliament’s impact: 2019 to 2024: Illustrating the powers of the European Parliament, from which this case is drawn.
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