The European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee decided on Tuesday to postpone its decision on validating the 2019 accounts of the Frontex border monitoring agency, in particular pending
“clarifications”
on accusations of illegal refoulements of migrants.
Read also: Frontex called to improve
MEPs
"expressed their strong concerns about the delays in the process of recruiting the officer and monitors in charge of human rights, the significant gender imbalance in particular at the level of the board of directors, the cases reports of harassment and the practice of meetings with representatives of companies that are not registered on the Union's transparency register ”
on lobbies, this parliamentary committee said in a press release.
"They are also awaiting clarifications on alleged cases of the Agency's complicity in fundamental rights violations relating to its involvement in refoulements of migrants, and call for greater involvement of the European Parliament's working group responsible for investigating the matter. the question, ”
adds the text.
The decision of MEPs (22 votes in favor, 3 against and 5 abstentions) to postpone the budgetary discharge for Frontex must be confirmed in a vote by the European Parliament in plenary in April.
If Frontex
"does not take measures to improve the situation by this autumn, the (European) Parliament can decide to refuse the discharge"
, it is specified.
Frontex's budget for 2019 was € 333 million.
Frontex pointed out
In the past, the European Parliament has already refused to grant budgetary discharge to several agencies and bodies of the European Union, including the European Commission.
For 2016 and 2017, Parliament refused to grant budgetary discharge to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), which led to changes in its management and organizational structure.
Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency, which saw its mandate strengthened in 2019, has been singled out since the publication in October 2020 of an investigation by several media accusing it of being involved with the Greek Coast Guard in incidents of push-back of migrant boats on the border between Greece and Turkey.
Suspicions of mismanagement have led to investigations by the European anti-fraud gendarme, Olaf, and the European ombudsperson.
Frontex is also criticized by the European Commission for delays in recruiting staff.
On March 5, Frontex's board urged the agency to
“urgently”
improve
its system for reporting incidents on the ground.
An investigation by a working group set up by this board of directors then concluded that there had been no illegal refoulements in eight of the incidents examined but that it was not possible to clarify five others. case.
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