As refugee crisis escalates, Frontex border guard shortage is `scandalous`, says senior MEP

Source: by Nick Mathiason, Victoria Parsons and Ted Jeory, 15/09/2015

The chairman of a powerful European Parliament committee today
described as "scandalous" a failure by member states to provide EU
border agency Frontex with enough equipment and personnel to deal with
the continent`s critical crisis.


UK Labour MEP Claude Moraes, who chairs the civil liberties, justice
and home affairs committee said people would be "astonished" by
findings from a Bureau investigation into Frontex and the migration
crisis.


The Bureau has discovered that despite being given extra funds by
Brussels five months ago, Frontex is still suffering from a severe
shortage of guards and other equipment such as patrol cars in the
Greek islands, on the land border between Greece and Turkey, Bulgaria
and Turkey and along the Hungarian border with Serbia.


EU member states were supposed to supply Frontex with border guards
and equipment to help alleviate pressure on Europe`s external borders.



The countries would be compensated by a €26.8m emergency grant to help
the search and rescue effort signed off by EU heads of state at a
high-level summit in April, a move that was portrayed as Europe
uniting in its response to mass tragedies in the Mediterranean.


But EU member states have not fully responded to repeated calls by
Frontex. Some of the extra money may have to be returned to Brussels
if Frontex has nothing to spend it on, the agency`s deputy director
admitted in an interview with the Bureau.


The revelation prompted Moraes to say: "Frontex is a crucial tool in
the response to this crisis and people will therefore be astonished
that despite funds being available it`s not adequately resourced so
that it can carry out the first-tier response."


As Frontex executive director, Fabrice Leggeri is due to appear in
front of Moraes`s committee later today, our investigation has
revealed that last month, EU Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship
Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos wrote to all 28 interior ministers
urging them to help.


But even that demand from the Commissioner for Migration to senior
interior ministers across Europe has not delivered enough border
guards and equipment.


As chaos continues to grip key migration routes, Frontex officials
have admitted to the Bureau it "badly need(s) border guards on the
Greek islands, border guards and technical equipment on the land
border between Greece and Turkey, Bulgaria and Turkey and, crucially
along the Hungarian border with Serbia."


Offers of key personnel and equipment from member states "are still
very scarce", said a Frontex spokeswoman.


Frontex`s deputy director Gil Arias-Fernández told the Bureau that
having the money was "useless" if it did not have the equipment to
spend it on.


"This is a pity and it might imply that by the end of the year if we
do not gather enough resources we will have to send the money back to
Brussels," he said.


Over the past three months, as part of a broader examination of the
refugee crisis, the Bureau has been investigating Frontex, a little
scrutinised EU institution set up in 2005 to police the external
borders of Europe`s passport-free Schengen area.


Our investigation also reveals:
• Frontex has faced severe criticism from Emily O`Reilly, the EU
Ombudsman, who told the Bureau that Frontex has "significant room for
improvement" ensuring independent observers monitor the return of
failed asylum seekers and migrants it organises.


• Despite more than two million refugees amassing in Turkey and
planning their dangerous trips across the borders, Frontex has not had
a single member of staff based there gathering intelligence about
smugglers. A "liaison officer" post was signed off by Brussels 18
months ago, but Frontex has only just advertised the job. Frontex, in
part hampered by EU rules requiring it to cut headcount elsewhere,
said it did not have the budget until only recently. The liaison
officer job ad states an annual salary of €42,588.


• Last year, Frontex awarded a contract worth €22,000 for a staff
Christmas party at the top class Palac Prymasowski restaurant in
Warsaw where 350 employees and their spouses celebrated the year end.
Its one day conference cost €350,000.


• The Bureau also identified a contract worth €17,500 for eight chairs
awarded to a furniture company in Finland in 2014. A Frontex
spokeswoman said they were "black leather chairs with a trimension
mechanism and a minimum warranty period of five years".


• Over the past two years alone, Frontex has budgeted €137,000 for
`Corporate Identity`. This included one contract worth €38,500 to a
Warsaw stationery company; according to the company`s invoice, Frontex
paid €9,100 for 400 Parker pens and pencils, and another €5,160 for
4,000 Frontex logoed key rings.


Commenting on criticism encountered on when it coordinates the return
of failed asylum seekers and migrants, a Frontex spokeswoman said:
"Frontex is fully committed to ensuring that highest standards are
respected in joint return operations."


She added that guidance in this area is currently being revised in
consultation with a wide number of human rights group and EU member
states.


"Frontex provides regular trainings, including the topic of
fundamental rights, to JRO escort leaders and national escort
multipliers to ensure that best practices are implemented and that
returns are conducted in highest respect of fundamental rights. Our
Return Operations Sector works closely with the Frontex Fundamental
Rights Officer who has full access to both training sessions and joint
return flights and actively contributes with her comments to all
return related activities."


On its border guard conference, she said: "It provides a forum for
discussion and the exchange of best practices, fosters interagency and
international cooperation and exchange of information (and) it
promotes common standards in training."