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The former boss of the European Union’s border agency reportedly left because his attempts to fortify the bloc were torpedoed by “pro-migrant politicians and NGOs”, according to a French report.
Frenchman Fabrice Leggeri, 54, quit his post at the head of Frontex at the end of April. In his resignation letter, he said: “It seems that the Frontex mandate on which I have been elected and renewed in June 2019 has silently but effectively been changed.”
It came on the same day as the publication of a long-running probe into the alleged illegal pushbacks of migrants by border guards under his control.
Coordinated by collaborative investigations group Lighthouse Reports, it said Frontex had been involved in repelling at least 957 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea between March 2020 and September 2021.
'We expected this resignation'
Mr Leggeri, who joined as the agency's chief in 2015, has a history of criticising the work of NGOs and other campaigners.
It has since been suggested that the French official stepped down because of their efforts to soften the bloc's stance on illegal migration.
"We expected this resignation," an official told Le Figaro newspaper. "The pressure of pro-migrant politicians and NGOs, who were leading the charge in Brussels against the Leggeri line, was too strong."
The source added that "Brussels did not look kindly" on its most-funded operation, with Frontex receiving a budget of €758 million.
During his reign, Mr Leggeri regularly hit out at charities and other organisations operating in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2017, he said the growing number of charities saving migrants off Libya should "re-evaluate" their work, claiming they encouraged traffickers to take more risks with people's lives.
The EU's anti-fraud watchdog Olaf said it had also closed an investigation into the former Frontex boss recently, but refused to comment further.
Alleged human rights violations
According to reports, EU sources suggest the probe was studying attempts by Mr Leggeri to cover up human rights violations.
The report has not been made public but Erik Marquardt, a German member of the European Parliament, said the summary "reveals that Frontex's management was aware of human rights violations and deliberately avoided reporting them".
Responding to the allegations, Mr Leggeri said there was "an obvious need for clarification".
He added: "I am not resigning to weigh in on this debate but to respond to a report that obliged me to defend myself."
The EU's Frontex agency has been repeatedly accused by aid groups of illegally returning migrants across the EU's borders - or turning a blind eye on national border guards doing the same.
Under Mr Leggeri’s hardline management, Frontex became the EU’s first uniformed force, with its officials allowed to carry handguns and other weapons paid for from the bloc’s centralised budget.
The Warsaw-based agency’s so-called Standing Corps entered into operation last year and will grow to more than a 10,000-strong unit by 2027.