As
refugee crisis flares, EU agency loses leader
Departure
puts the agency — and Commission — in awkward position ahead of
key summit.
By LAURENS CERULUS
10/20/15, 5:30 AM CET Updated 10/20/15, 7:50 AM CET
An agency on the
frontline of the EU’s response to the refugee crisis is losing its
top official — and his replacement is not expected before February.
Robert Visser, the
executive director of the European Asylum Support Office, told the
agency’s management board he will not serve out the remaining three
months of his term, but will instead leave his position at the end of
October.
Visser’s
surprising departure leaves a key EU agency without permanent
leadership as Europe confronts its worst refugee crisis since World
War II. It also puts the EU in an awkward position only a few weeks
before it will host a high-profile summit of European and African
countries on migration in the same city where the agency is based:
Valletta, Malta.
“His leave comes
at a bad time,” said the Belgian representative to EASO’s
management board, Dirk Van den Bulck. “EASO will have to switch
into higher gear to realize certain things. Someone else will have to
lead this.”
As the migration
crisis has escalated, EU leaders have given the agency more
responsibility, increasing its budget and staff. EASO, which provides
assistance to national authorities in dealing with asylum-seekers, is
also set to get a central role in organizing the coordination of
“hotspots” — one of the EU’s main instruments for managing
the processing of migrants.
“It’s a terrible
shame to leave now, with all that’s happening,” Visser told
POLITICO. “But we couldn’t have foreseen this five years ago.”
The Dutchman had
been expected to stay on even after the end of his current term, with
an extension of his mandate for another three years. But he informed
the board he would leave instead to start a new job on November 1 in
the Netherlands as secretary-general at the Dutch Council of State.
Visser told POLITICO
that it “wasn’t ideal for him personally” to stay on at EASO
for another three years.
Visser’s abrupt
departure has put pressure on the European Commission to find a
successor soon. The Commission closed the vacancy for the position
October 9. It is “pursuing the procedure of the appointment … as
quickly as possible,” it said in an email.
But a new executive
director is expected only by February, EASO’s spokesperson said.
Until then the agency will rely on an interim-chief — head of
administration José Carreira — to run the agency.
The Commission,
meanwhile, said it is “confident that the continuity of the proper
functioning of the agency will be maintained until the new executive
director has been appointed.”
“The coming weeks
will be crucial,” said a source involved in EASO’s work. “You
will need a different EASO, one that can deploy entire teams within
weeks, with the assets and resources needed to support countries
under pressure. Everything is overshadowed by the crisis — this
will be their test.”
Visser, a Dutch
technocrat, took on the job of executive director in 2010. Since
then, the agency’s staff has doubled, from 42 in 2011 to 84 in
2014, and its annual budget has increased from €8 million to €14.5
million. The plans for expansion include another 30 full-time staff
members.
While officials
involved in EASO’s work call the agency’s start-up a success,
others are critical of its work.
“It’s very
unclear what they’re doing — there’s a big problem of
transparency,” said Kris Pollet, senior legal and policy officer at
the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, the main NGO alliance
lobbying the EU on migration. “We’re facing the largest refugee
crisis ever in Europe, and apparently it’s not clear for an
outsider what role EASO takes up.”
Perhaps the most
glaring criticism is that communication is a weakness for EASO. An
internal Commission evaluation of the agency stressed that “one of
the most challenging aspects” is its external outreach.
Even in the midst of
the crisis, the agency remains unknown to many. It struggles to
participate in the public debate that has dominated headlines across
Europe in recent months, unlike the EU’s border protection agency,
Frontex.
But Van den Bulck
insisted that the low profile was part of the agency’s mission.
“EASO is not a political player,” he said. “It’s role is to
support countries.”
Visser said: “It
was not our focus to make sure every citizen knows EASO. You have to
explain what you’re doing, since you’re doing it with public
money, but the priority on communication is with the member states.”
The agency’s work
is also limited by its mandate, or the powers EU members agreed to
give it.
EASO drafts
instruction manuals and gathers statistical data from EU members on
asylum questions, and sets up teams of experts from different
countries to assist in countries dealing with a sudden high influx of
asylum-seekers. It has set up training modules for national asylum
authorities.
But it has no power
to carry out asylum procedures. Its mandate has been clearly
restricted to support and coordination in this highly sensitive
policy area.
“I’ve heard
people say ‘We expected more of [the agency]’, and I understand
this, but there is nothing we could do about that,” said Visser.
“We have interpreted our mandate to the fullest. This is a
step-by-step process in building trust.”
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