EU asylum
agency bosses favored ‘friendly circle’ for promotions, watchdog finds
Fraud
watchdog probes favoritism and mismanagement at agency tasked with implementing
EU asylum law.
May 15, 2025
4:00 am CET
By Max
Griera and Elisa Braun
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-asylum-agency-bosses-promotions-watchdog-probe/
BRUSSELS —
Senior management at the EU’s asylum agency bypassed staff regulations to
promote a “friendly circle” into senior positions, a confidential investigation
by the EU’s anti-fraud watchdog OLAF found.
OLAF
launched its investigation in late 2022 after anonymous complaints from staff
raised alarm about irregularities in personnel decisions.
The probe,
which concluded this year and was shared with MEPs in March, says senior
leadership bypassed procedures to appoint friends in managerial positions. It
also says the agency’s leadership restructured the legal, procurement and
facility departments not in response to organizational needs, but to
accommodate the career ambitions of certain individuals.
The report
on EU Asylum Agency (EUAA) tasked with implementing the bloc’s asylum law comes
at a sensitive time for the EU. As Europe’s far-right forces grow, Brussels is
at pains to present a tough front on migration, and faces a mammoth task in
enforcing its migration pact and a new right-leaning deportation bill in the
works.
EUAA’s
executive director, Nina Gregori, has denied any wrongdoing. “The alleged facts
raised in the OLAF report have not been found established … no misconduct was
found, and I did not receive any disciplinary penalty,” she said in a written
statement to POLITICO, pointing out the agency’s management board tasked with
her supervision decided not to launch disciplinary procedures after assessing
the case.
The chair of
the EUAA management board, Evelina Gudzinskaitė, told POLITICO that “it is
important to see the matters addressed by the OLAF report in the context of the
Agency’s growth,” arguing that the EUAA quickly needed to fill in vacancies.
The board sent Gregori a set of recommendations to improve recruitment
processes, she added.
The EUAA
said the case was closed, but that it would now look to strengthen its human
resources’ procedures.
The European
Parliament has opened its own probe into the matter and has delayed approval of
the agency’s 2023 accounts.
The findings
The details
of the OLAF findings were confirmed to POLITICO by two officials familiar with
the probe. They were granted anonymity to discuss the confidential
investigation. OLAF declined to comment.
Findings
include abuse of temporary appointments and promotions of multiple people
within leadership figures’ “friendly circle” to mid-management roles between
2019 and 2023. This was contrary to what would be beneficial for the agency and
is in breach of EU staff regulations, the OLAF investigators found, according
to the same two officials.
OLAF alleges
that recruitment decisions were also steered by personal ties — including
appointing friends as chairs of hiring panels, canceling formal selection
processes, and ignoring input from official selection committees. The EU’s
watchdog also said those decisions were taken to the detriment of the good
governance and reputation of the agency, the people with knowledge of the
investigation said.
Those
favored are described in the report as being “on friendly terms — visiting each
other, having coffees, lunches,” with some having known each other before
joining the agency, the same people familiar with the investigation said.
The report
comes at a sensitive time for the EU. As Europe’s far-right forces grow,
Brussels is at pains to present a tough front on migration. | Donato Fasano/EFE
via EPA
Such hiring
practices would be in breach of the EU’s Staff Regulations since its leadership
is accused of bypassing established procedures and ignored internal
recommendations, OLAF investigators pointed out.
Gregori
claimed her “strategic decision, as a manager, not to prioritize recruitment
procedures” to fill in the vacancies, instead using temporary staff, was legal
and related to “exceptional circumstances.” She pointed to urgent hiring needs
during the Covid-19 pandemic, during which “recruitment procedures were stopped
completely,” and an increase of workload that justified such choices.
As examples
of the workload she faced, Gregori referred to the fall of Afghanistan to the
Taliban, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the stand-off at the
Belarus border between Polish border agents and migrants.
Gregori said
she did not play any role in these individuals’ recruitment, who she said were
hired before she became executive director in 2019.
“All
[allegations] in respect of ‘close friendly-circle’ were based on pure hearsay
or unfounded allegations of unidentified witnesses without further explanation
or [proof],” she added.
In a written
statement, Gregori also explained she presented her version of the facts set
out in OLAF findings to the EUAA’s supervisory board, who had to weigh whether
it should follow the watchdog’s conclusions. OLAF said it would not seek
judicial proceedings.
After those
exchanges, the EUAA’s supervisory board didn’t call for disciplinary
proceedings. But it did set forth recommendations and a warning to the
executive director “to take measures to ensure more efficient and transparent
procedures and more broadly to strengthen the overall HR administration in the
Agency,” board chair Gudzinskaitė told POLITICO.
Parliament
reopens probe
Still,
lawmakers believe Gregori has “some explaining to do,” according to Swedish MEP
Jonas Sjöstedt, a member of the budgetary control committee. “That will decide
her future in the position.”
Citing
“worrying” conclusions that threaten the “stability, governance, and
reputation” of the agency, European Parliament lawmakers voted on May 7 to
freeze signing off on the accounts of the agency, enabling the reopening of a
probe over supposed governance failures and disputed appointments.
While the
delay in the adoption of the accounts carries no legal weight, it conveys a
warning and can be used to put political pressure on the board, just as public
scrutiny of the EU’s migration policy implementation rises.
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