Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-13-Speech-2-034-000"
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"en.20110913.4.2-034-000"2
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"Madam President, the Frontex Agency is an agency that has been untouched by the crisis, given that its budget has increased from just over EUR 6 million in 2005 to more than EUR 80 million today. In other words, Frontex has grown without facing any awkward questions for many years.
Ultimately, the Member States saw something to be gained from this: firstly, the availability of resources for their own internal operations; secondly, the opportunity to turn to Frontex when faced with countries that were seen to be failing to control their borders; and thirdly, the increase in Frontex’s powers and resources, which everyone was calling for. This also enabled the Director of Frontex, only two years ago, to tell MEPs in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, who were worried about human rights being violated, that it was not Frontex’s job to deal with that issue; it was the responsibility of the Member States!
Frontex has ultimately grown against this backdrop of irresponsibility with regard to human rights. I think that, today, it is really to the credit of Parliament and its rapporteur, Mr Busuttil, that the issue of fundamental rights protection was placed so high on the agenda of the negotiations. I say this, of course, because the Treaty of Lisbon has come into force and Frontex is now accountable for its actions to the Court of Justice, which is no small thing; and also because a number of reports show that the principle of non-refoulement has been violated several times during Frontex operations and that access to asylum application procedures, which is an inviolable and international right, has been somewhat mismanaged. We are also awaiting a report from Human Rights Watch, which will show that Frontex is responsible, to some extent, for the unfair detention of migrants.
We therefore had a real problem with regard to respect for human rights, and I believe that the negotiations have enabled us to make serious progress in this area. Nevertheless, this does not mean that my group will be voting in favour of this mandate, because we believe that independence – as mentioned by Ms Lochbihler in particular – independent observation, and reliable, impartial and independent procedures for combating human rights violations, have not been established. This is what will ultimately lead my group to abstain.
Moreover, I should like to take advantage of this debate in order to question the Commission and the Council on the results and the status of Operation Hermes, the most recent Frontex operation: boats, helicopters, 2 000 drowned in the Mediterranean since the NATO intervention in Libya. What did Frontex do during this time? I do not know."@en1
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