Frontex started with great ambitions from the period of Junker’s presidency in the European Commission, but it seems to be sinking in the waters of the Aegean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) finding lays heavy blame on the previous administration of Frontex for push-backs of refugees from Greek islands to Turkish shores, mismanagement and even incidents of sexual harassment that were not given the necessary attention.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nBased on OLAF’s analysis, the actions of Frontex officials were contrary to the internal regulations and the civil service code and a number of European regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end result was that its executives did not show respect for European law and the fundamental rights of those arriving at the European borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OLAF’s finding led to the resignation of its French director, Fabrice L\u00e9gerie, thus pre-empting the disciplinary process against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European Parliament has adopted with a large majority a report that is particularly strict in its assessment of how Frontex operates. The report welcomes the change of management and the first positive signals, but underlines that a lot needs to be done to start Frontex operating according to the standards set and with full respect for human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The targets set for Frontex were particularly ambitious and included the employment of ten thousand workers, at full deployment. There is no particular willingness to staff Frontex due to the difficult conditions faced by employees in the exercise of their professional duties. Thus, its needs in matters of great importance, such as interpretation, evaluation of refugees and immigrants, legal support and ensuring respect for their rights, assistance to the most vulnerable, are not fully met.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe change in priorities caused the political turn against Frontex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At first it was thought that it would be a kind of European border guard. Over time, the view prevailed that it should be more of a proper refugee reception service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The criticism leveled at Frontex is correct, but whatever changes are introduced must not weaken Frontex. It is certain that Turkey’s president Erdogan will take advantage of its eventual weakening to send more refugees and migrants and thus strengthen his negotiating position vis-\u00e0-vis the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A strong European presence in the Aegean and the Evros is of great importance, because otherwise there will be a risk that the tension in the relations between Greece and Turkey will gradually increase as soon as Erdogan decides to repeat the strategies of 2015 and the effort of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the climate in the European Parliament and in general is not in favor of a strong Frontex, but of an agency that will organize the dignified reception of refugees and immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of the criticism leveled, there remains a huge gap in the EU’s immigration and asylum policy. with host countries footing the bill. The competent vice-president of the European Commission, Mr. Schinas, and the commissioner, Ms. Johansson, could not, despite their efforts, convince the governments to coordinate at the European level.<\/p>\n\n\n The immigration issue and the example of Sweden<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And while Frontex is criticized on the grounds that it should become more tolerant in dealing with refugees and immigrants, the governments concerned are tightening their refugee-immigrant policy. This is an obvious contradiction, since if we assume that Frontex is relaxed and flows increase, most refugees and migrants will have somewhere to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case of Sweden is typical, where a three-party minority government was formed by the Moderates and Christian Democrats belonging to the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Liberals (Liberalerna) belonging to Renew Europe. The Prime Minister is Ulf Christensen \u2013 leader of the Moderates \u2013 and the government has the parliamentary support of the hard Right as the far-right party of the Sweden Democrats, who belong to the Conservative and Reform (ECR) group in the European Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The refugee dominated the formation of the government. The center-right decided to work with the hard right to end the political dominance of the Social Democrats and their allies. They felt that the Social Democrats had failed to manage immigration, fight immigration-related crime, promote social integration and protect independence of thought and personal choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They assure that the change in refugee-immigrant policy will be done with absolute respect for Sweden’s international commitments and the country’s high democratic standards. In 2015-2016, Sweden received the most refugees in relation to its population. It is widely believed that the situation has spilled over into inner-city areas, with organized gangs of foreigners who arrived in Sweden seeking political asylum dealing drugs, developing prostitution and human-trafficking rings and using increasingly heavy weapons to confront the police or solve the differences between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is estimated that in 2022 Sweden will grant political asylum to 6,400 but the new government will impose an annual quota of just 900 asylum applications per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweden, with its social democratic tradition and respect for democratic and human rights, seems determined to tighten the reins on the refugee-immigrant issue.<\/p>\n\n\n The great success of Frontex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And while the picture is gray from the Aegean to Sweden, the E.U. records a great success in the refugee as far as Ukraine is concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putin is pursuing a strategy of systematically destroying Ukraine’s basic infrastructure in order to force millions of Ukrainians to flee their country and to put additional pressure on EU countries. through an uncontrolled wave of refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It uses the method of Erdogan 2015-2016 but in a more brutal way and on a larger scale. The striking thing is that this form of hybrid warfare that Putin is waging has had the opposite of the intended results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries such as Poland and Hungary that barred refugees appeared extremely generous to Ukrainian refugees. Citizens, regional and local self-government, governments and social organizations welcomed the Ukrainian refugees in the best possible way. They are estimated at more than five million, with both having taken refuge in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are almost exclusively women and children, since the men are defending their homeland and are forbidden to leave Ukraine. Many of the refugees return for a time to Ukraine to renew contact with their families and then return to the neighboring countries \u2013 when they deem it necessary \u2013 because of the state terrorism that is practiced on the population by Russia with bombings of all kinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only has Putin failed to divide the Europeans, he has caused with his brutality a wave of pro-Ukrainian solidarity and a new enlarged European unity.<\/p>\n\n\n Through the test and the human contacts, the appropriate political climate was created that led to the decision of the European Council for the future integration of Ukraine into the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Conservative governments of Poland and Hungary are trying to use their good behavior towards refugees and migrants to reduce the distance that separates them from Brussels on issues of judicial independence, corruption and respect for the rule of law. They are seeking a new agreement to release the funds allocated to the two countries under the European Recovery Fund. Poland has inflation at 15%, Hungary at 20%, and their governments are facing major economic difficulties for the first time in a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Erdogan has succeeded in creating serious problems of understanding and cohesion in the E.U. through the refugee-immigrant issue, Putin failed in this attempt. Europeans realize that the Russian threat is something that directly concerns them, while what is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or Somalia does not touch them. In addition, the composition of refugees coming from Ukraine is different \u2013 \u200b\u200balmost all women and children and some elderly \u2013 while most refugees and migrants coming from Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries with huge problems and risks are mostly young men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The refugee issue continues to be kept in the news in the EU. but with different approaches. 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