EU
Border Office Chief on Refugee Crisis: 'We Should Have No Illusions'
Interview Conducted By Peter
Müller
“We should have no
illusions: As long as the bloodshed in Syria continues, refugees will
keep coming.”
As
head of the EU border agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri has one of the
hardest jobs in Europe. Tasked with protecting the external borders
of the Schengen area, he is keenly aware of just how fragile the zone
has become as a result of the refugee crisis.
Fabrice Leggeri
knows his borders. He headed a unit within the French Interior
Ministry that dealt with cross-border traffic, and he helped draft
the communique to the European Commission that recommended creating
Frontex, the European Union's external border agency. Since Leggeri
took up his position as the head of Frontex in January 2015, Europe's
migrant crisis has taken on a whole new dimension. Millions of
refugees fleeing war and poverty have flocked to the Continent, and
their arrival has tested the very limits of one of the EU's greatest
achievements: its open borders. Leggeri knows the stakes are high: If
his agency can't manage to secure Europe's outer borders, Schengen
could collapse.
SPIEGEL: Mr.
Leggeri, Turkey is seen as playing a crucial role in handling the
refugee crisis. Is the government there doing enough to limit the
influx of migrants to Europe?
Leggeri: No. Taking
care of 2 million Syrian refugees is, of course, a burden for Turkey.
I appreciate that. But if Ankara is going to demand sweeping
concessions, such as a relaxation of visa requirements for its
citizens, we Europeans should be able to expect more in return in the
form of more stringent border controls.
SPIEGEL: As the head
of the EU border agency Frontex, what do you have in mind?
Leggeri: Turkey
should make life more difficult for the human-traffickers. These are
organized criminals we're talking about. The Turkish police have the
responsibility and the opportunity to put them out of business. At
the very least, we expect Turkey to provide us with information: How
many refugees can we expect? And where are they going to arrive?
SPIEGEL: Once
migrants are at sea, the Greek coast guard has no other choice but to
bring them back to Greece.
Leggeri: People in
need of protection must have access to a safe country. The Turkish
coast guard should work with the Turkish police to prevent migrants
and refugees from putting their lives in danger. But that's not
what's happening. Frontex and the Greek coast guard rescued more than
100,000 refugees from rubber dinghies last year and brought them to
Greece.
SPIEGEL: At the
moment, the number of refugees is decreasing slightly compared to
last autumn. Why?
Leggeri: This seems
to be due to the winter weather. We won't be able to say whether
cooperating with Turkey has already begun to show positive results
for at least another few weeks. Despite the bad weather, between
2,000-3,000 people are arriving in Greece each day.
SPIEGEL: The UN
refugee agency estimates that a million refugees could try and reach
the EU via Turkey this year. Is this realistic?
Leggeri: Yes. We
should have no illusions: As long as the bloodshed in Syria
continues, refugees will keep coming. Even if all we're able to do is
keep the numbers stable, that would already be an achievement.
SPIEGEL: Three
thousand people per day for 365 days ...
Leggeri: ... is
still 1 million refugees a year. I'm familiar with the math.
SPIEGEL: Amnesty
International reports that Turkey has sent hundreds of Syrian and
Iraqi refugees back to their home countries.
Leggeri: I can't
confirm those reports. One thing is clear: Turkey is a candidate
country for EU accession. It is required to offer sanctuary to people
in need of protection. It may not simply send them back into danger.
Frontex Executive
Director Fabrice Leggeri: "We should have no illusions: As long
as the bloodshed in Syria continues, refugees will keep coming."
SPIEGEL: The
European Commission wants to make Frontex a proper border protection
force with the authority to override the laws of individual Schengen
states if necessary to secure the bloc's external borders. What do
you think of this plan?
Leggeri: There's no
way around it. In a sense, 10 years have been lost since Frontex was
founded. Our agents still have no access to the Schengen Information
System, for instance, and are thus sometimes unable to help the
national authorities as they would like. If we can't protect our
external borders, Schengen will fail.
SPIEGEL: In Brussels
and Berlin, a discussion is currently taking place about the
possibility of kicking Greece out of Schengen. What do you think
about these considerations?
Leggeri: Frontex's
role is to support the member states in order to ensure a more
effective management of the EU's external borders. Our highest
priority continues to be the EU-Turkish border. Greece recently
requested more border guards to be stationed on the Greek side of the
country's border with Macedonia. But the purpose would be to register
migrants, not to close the border.
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