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BRUSSELS, Oct. 18 (AP) — European Union lawmakers on Tuesday refused to endorse the way the EU border and coast guard will use its 2020 budget, citing concerns about serious misconduct by staff and human rights concerns involving Frontex work.
Frontex monitors the EU external borders of 27 countries. The agency has come under pressure over allegations of involvement in illegal immigration, particularly in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. Its executive director resigned earlier this year following an investigation by the Anti-Fraud Office.
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In a plenary meeting in Strasbourg, France, lawmakers voted 345 to 284, with 8 abstentions, not to sign Frontex’s 2020 account.
“With a 2022 budget of 900 million euros ($884 million), Frontex is the most well-funded institution in Europe. We can no longer tolerate public funds being used to violate European legislation and international law,” Dutch Greens MP Bas Eckhau Te said after the vote.
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The move has no immediate legal consequences, but it does force EU institutions – especially the European Commission – to take steps to address parliament’s concerns. In a similar situation in 1999, the entire committee resigned over corruption allegations.
Several members of the European Parliament have raised concerns about the suspected suicide of a Frontex staffer, which apparently has been linked to allegations of sexual harassment.
A report by the EU’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, examined Frontex’s activities in Greece from spring to fall 2020 and found evidence that the agency did not properly investigate or handle immigration boycotts, and sometimes tried to cover up or not report them at all.
Fighting back – forcing people to return across international borders, by land or sea, without assessing their right to apply for asylum or other forms of protection – violates international and EU law.
Human rights lawyers, NGOs, media investigators and other entities have long accused Greek authorities of a violent and deadly response to migrants and refugees crossing the border from Turkey.
Frontex tried to put these allegations behind it. “The agency takes the findings of investigations, audits and other forms of review seriously and uses them as an opportunity to make better changes,” Frontex said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday.
The agency’s management acknowledged the findings of “serious misconduct” by three Frontex employees, but said it had taken “remedial measures” to address the issues, mainly procedural changes within the agency. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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