Fabrice Leggeri

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Fabrice Leggeri in 2015

Fabrice Joêl Roger Leggeri[1] (born 28 March 1968) is a French civil servant, since 2015 director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).

Biography[]

Leggeri graduated in History (1990) and Contemporary History (1991) from the University of Paris. In 1992 he got a diploma at Sciences Po. He graduated from the Ecole normale supérieure in 1993 and from École nationale d'administration (ENA) in Strasbourg in 1996.[2]

From 1996 to 1999, he worked in France's Ministry of the Interior on cross-border traffic, frontiers and visas. The following year he was project leader to the director for territorial, administration and political affairs at the French Ministry of Interior From 2000 to 2003, he was seconded to the European Commission as a national expert.[3]

As vice-prefect in two French regions (Upper Normandy in 2003–2005, Châteaulin District in 2005–2007),[2] Leggeri coordinated police forces and law enforcement agencies and setting up operational action plans to maintain public order and security.[3]

From 2007 he headed the division for international and European law at the French Ministry of Defence. In 2001 he moved to Seoul to serve as deputy head of the French Embassy in South Korea.[2]

Between 2013 and 2014, he headed the division for the fight against irregular migration at the French Ministry of Interior, also in charge of Schengen.[3]

Executive Director of Frontex[]

In 2015 Leggeri was appointed Executive Director of the EU's Frontex agency, based in Warsaw[4]

In May 2015, the European Ombudsman issued recommendations for Frontex to improve its modalities to ensures respect for the fundamental rights and human dignity of the individuals being returned. The Ombudsman highlighted the need for Frontex to improve transparency, amend its code of conduct and promote independent and effective monitoring of joint return operations.[5]

Under Leggeri's mandate, Frontex saw an exponential increase in its mandate, staffing (doubling to 500) and resources, as the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency, with the entry into force of the new Regulation 2019/1896.[6]

At the same time, the Agency was subject of multiple and growing critiques due to the lack of a systematic monitoring of human rights compliance in its work,[7] and the growing reports of illegal pushbacks conducted by EU Member States' coast guards and border police, with the alleged knowledge or complicity of Frontex.

In July 2020, Leggeri appeared in front of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee,[8] claiming that only one incident of pushback had been reported to his Agency.

In October 2020, the European Ombudsman opened an inquiry into about Frontex's handling of requests for public access to documents, following multiple complaints. Documents released by Frontex are only accessible for 15 days on the Agency's own portal and are claimed to remain under the Agency's copyright.[9]

In October 2020, MEPs from The Left group in the European Parliament called for his resignation following journalistic investigations highlighting the role of Frontex in the pushback of asylum seekers towards Turkey.[10] The Agency's investment of 100 million EUR in surveillance drones was also put under scrutiny.[11] European Commissioner Ylva Johansson requested an investigation on the pushback reports and called for an extraordinary meeting of the Frontex management board on 10 November.[12][13] The replies of Frontex to the commission were later published by Greek media .[14]

On 1 December Leggeri appeared in front of the European Parliament to respond of accusations of involvement of Frontex in pushbacks. MEPs from The Left group asked again for his resignation.[15]

Misleading Parliament and Unregistered Meetings with Lobbyist[]

In February 2021, under Leggeri's leadership, Frontex was accused of its staff meeting "with scores of unregistered lobbyists that represent the weapons, surveillance and biometrics industries". The investigation also indicated that Frontex misled the European Parliament. In 2018, Leggeri told MEPs in response to a question: “Frontex only met with registered lobbyists who are registered in the EU Transparency Register … no meetings were held in 2017.” But according to the documents obtained, Frontex “held at least four meetings with industry” that year, CEO wrote. “Of the 24 private bodies that participated in these meetings – mostly companies – over half (58 percent or 14 bodies) were not registered in the EU Transparency Register.” Overall, their research found that from 2017 to 2019, Frontex met with 138 private groups: 108 companies, 10 research centers or think tanks, 15 universities and one non-governmental organization. Human rights organizations were notably absent. [16]

References[]

  1. ^ Frontex contract
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Frontex CV" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Biography - Fabrice Leggeri - Frontex Executive Director". Retrieved 2019-05-04. Content is copied from this source, which is © European Union, 1995-2018. Reuse is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged.
  4. ^ "Fabrice Leggeri - Frontex Executive Director". Retrieved 2020-01-01.
  5. ^ EU Ombudsman, May 2015
  6. ^ Frontex - Executive Profiles
  7. ^ International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
  8. ^ European Parliament - LIBE
  9. ^ EU Ombudsman letter, 1 October 2020
  10. ^ GUE-NGL
  11. ^ MSN
  12. ^ Politico.eu
  13. ^ ECRE
  14. ^ Efsyn
  15. ^ EurActiv
  16. ^ EU border agency Frontex met with scores of unregistered lobbyists: report ‘’Politico’. 6 January 2021.

External links[]

Government offices
Preceded by
Ilkka Laitinen 		Director of Frontex
January 2015 - 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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