The European Anti-Fraud Office’s 129-page report has collected detailed evidence of human rights violations on the Greek coast and Frontex’s role in them.
Already in 2020, a group of investigative journalists exposed Greek operations in which migrant boats trying to land were forced back to sea.
OLAF’s leaked report sheds light on the role Frontex played in these operations.
EU funds were used for violent conversions
Frontex has an obligation to intervene if people’s basic rights are violated. However, according to the document, it seems that the agency tried to avoid its responsibilities in the Aegean Sea.
In August 2020, Frontex aerial surveillance filmed the Greek Coast Guard towing a boat with 30 migrants on board. The boat was towed into Turkish territorial waters, even though the migrants should have been taken to Greece.
Frontex would have been able to monitor the Greek Coast Guard from the air. Instead, the agency decided to stop air surveillance in the Aegean Sea completely.
The OLAF document mentions a handwritten memo clarifying that the Frontex management decided to end air surveillance in order not to become a witness to Greek law violations.
In addition, the Greek Coast Guard received financial support from Frontex for at least six ships. It is known that in at least one case, an EU-sponsored ship was involved in human rights violations that occurred off Greece.
The management of Frontex knew about it and tried by all means to hide it from the EU, the report sums up.
The ex-Director General of Frontex has a key role in hiding information
OLAF’s document has collected numerous e-mail messages and Whatsapp conversations, some of which include the Director General of Frontex by Fabrice Legger sent by
According to the document, for example, Legger systematically prevented reports, videos and documents from reaching the agency’s human rights officer at the time Inmaculada for Arnaez.
In addition to Legger, this assistant by Thibauld de La Haye Jousselin and the ex-director of the Frontex situation center by Dirk Vande Rysen is suspected of having participated in concealing information.
Legger resigned in April. According to Der Spiegel, the resignation decision was probably influenced by OLAF’s investigation.
At the beginning of July, he became the deputy CEO of Frontex Aija Kalnaja. He admitted that there have been problems on the border between Greece and Turkey.
However, the agency puts the blame on the Greek border guards. According to Kalnja, the border authorities have pressured Frontex officials and failed to report migrant boats to Frontex.
Greece denies allegations of human rights violations
The Greek government has repeatedly denied claims that its border guards were guilty of illegal conversions.
Greek Minister of Immigration Notis Mitarachi said Thursday that based on the summary of the report, Greece is not actually accused of human rights violations in the Aegean.
– We have the right to protect our borders. The EU has the right to protect its external borders, Mitarachi summarized.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Greece and the Frontex office this week. On Friday, he met the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Baerbock proposes to increase the number of observers in the Aegean region.
– I cannot find out in detail how each individual case progressed. However, there have been violations that contradict EU legislation, Baerbock said earlier on Thursday.
The number of illegal border crossings is increasing
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 6,000 migrants have already arrived in Greece at the beginning of the year. Last year, a total of more than 9,000 migrants arrived in Greece by water and land.
According to Frontex, illegal border crossings between Turkey and Greece increased by 84 percent in the first half of this year compared to a year earlier.
The spokesperson of the European Commission said at a press conference on Thursday that the problems of the EU’s external border have already been addressed. For example, the EU has intensified its cooperation with Greece and enhanced its monitoring system, which tracks the movements of migrants.
The EU has also said that it plans to increase the number of personnel controlling the EU’s external borders to 10,000 by 2027.
Frontex currently has around 1,500 officers across Europe. In recent years, 10–30 Finnish border guards have served in the ranks of Frontex.