Today’s resolution on Frontex is the European Parliament’s recognition that violations of fundamental rights happen every day at our external borders and that Frontex has been complicit for years. 

Left MEP Cornelia Ernst (Die Linke, Germany) declared: 

“Without The Left Group, there would not have been a resolution following the investigation of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group. The investigation focused on illegal pushbacks at the EU’s external borders and the complicity of Frontex. Under pressure from us, Parliament also commented on more recent scandals, such as Frontex’s role in the Pylos shipwreck off Greece, and MEPs also reiterated their call for coordinated Search and Rescue operations.” 

“Parliament also notes that Libya is not a ‘safe port’. This is all the more important in light of new revelations that show how the agency and Maltese authorities are cooperating with a Libyan criminal militia to intercept refugees in the Mediterranean. These then end up in Libyan prisons, which the Pope has already described as ‘hell on earth’. 

“As expected, despite the dismissal of former Executive Director Leggeri, there is no end in sight to the illegal practices at Frontex. Enough is enough. Everything really has been said. The agency had its chance. Now it must end; the agency must be abolished.”

You can find the resolution in full here.