News

At its extraordinary meeting of 6 October 2021, the Management Board reviewed and discussed the reports of the various control bodies addressed to the Agency.

The Management Board welcomes the work of, the European Parliament’s Frontex Scrutiny Working Group (FSWG), the European Ombudsman, the European Court of Auditors, the Internal Audit Service and of its own Working Group on Fundamental Rights, Legal and Operational Aspects of Operations (WG FRaLO), and their respective recommendations. All these reports represent a very important contribution to the well-functioning of the Agency, and they represent an opportunity to reinforce the governance and internal management of the Agency by addressing a wide array of the shortcomings that have been identified.

It is a key responsibility of the Management Board to ensure that the Agency addresses all the recommendations as soon as possible and that it is able to demonstrate to the EU institutions that the shortcomings have been promptly addressed.

The Management Board welcomes and takes note of the progress made so far by the Agency in addressing the recommendations and encourages the Executive Director to ensure the swift implementation of those that are still pending. Regarding the specific work streams, the Management Board concludes as follows:

• The Management Board welcomes the progress made by the Agency in the implementation of the recommendations of the FSWG, in particular as regards the new Standard Operating Procedures on the Serious Incident Reporting (SIR), the adoption of the Action Plan to the Fundamental Rights Strategy and the Standard Operating Procedure on the implementation of Article 46 of the EBCG Regulation

• In this context, the Management Board acknowledges that further progress is still needed in many areas, including the revision of the complaints mechanism

• Priority must be given to the finalization of the recruitment of the remaining Fundamental Rights Monitors at AD level

• The Management Board calls on the Agency to promptly implement the still pending recommendations and invites the Agency to regularly report on the progress in the implementation. The draft measures referred to in the Agency’s Action Plan to implement the recommendations should be submitted in time to the Executive Board for review, before they are formally submitted for adoption to the Management Board or signed by the Executive Director

• The Management Board notes the recommendations from the FSWG regarding its response to the allegations of fundamental rights violations and will ensure proper follow-up.

• The Management Board welcomes the report and the recommendations provided by the European Ombudsman

• The Management Board welcomes the Agency’s efforts to translate the Ombudsman’s recommendations into concrete actions and to implement these rapidly. The Management Board invites the Agency to regularly report on the progress of the implementation

• The Management Board, however, notes the Ombudsman’s finding that the complaints mechanism was rarely used and invites the Agency to regularly report on the mechanism’s use following its revision

• The Management Board calls on the Agency to seek review by the Executive Board of its draft revised complaints mechanism.

• The Management Board takes note of and welcomes the Agency‘s Action Plan.

• The Management Board appreciates the progress made by the Agency on the implementation of the recommendations stemming from the Report of the Board’s WG FRaLO and calls on the Agency, as well as on the host and participating Member States of joint operational activities of the European Border and Coast Guard to strive for full implementation of all recommendations

• The Management Board notes that the revision of the definition of the incident types ‘prevention of departure’ and ‘third country action’ is still outstanding and calls on the Agency to complete this revision without any further delay, in order to ensure that the measures taken and reported are properly qualified and justified. (cf. actions 2.3.2. and 2.3.3. in the Roadmap)

• The Management Board calls on the Agency to make progress on ensuring, to the extent possible, the documentation and monitoring of sensitive scenarios (e.g. by taking photos and/or videos and/or providing livestreaming video) as concerns all actions (detection, tracking and interception), in full respect of applicable Union or national law provisions. The Agency should explore how the teams of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps and/or assets deployed to carry out operational activities can be equipped with equipment to that effect. (cf. Action 2.3.7. in the Roadmap)

• The Management Board invites the Executive Director and the Fundamental Right Officer to prepare a report, on the practical implementation of the revised Standard Operating Procedures on the SIR mechanism, and, in this context, to provide a comparative assessment of its efficiency, especially as regards the follow-up on SIRs, by the end of the year 2021.

• The Management Board urges the Agency to implement without any further delay the still outstanding recommendations from the past IAS audits, in particular regarding the Contract management (2019), IT Governance and Project Management (2019), HR Planning, Allocation & Recruitment (2020)

• Regarding the IAS audit on the IT Governance and Project Management, given that the Management Board was not involved in the preparation of the key strategic documents developed by the Agency (i.e. ICT Action Plan and the ICT Strategy), the Agency should present them without further delay to the Management Board for review and endorsement

• The Management Board urges the Agency to continue to report frequently within the WG on Budget and Accounts on the progress made.

Given the strategic importance of all these recommendations for the well-functioning and the sound management of the Agency, the Management Board will regularly monitor the progress of the implementation of the recommendations. To that end, the Management Board invites the Executive Director to report on the progress of the implementation covering all the recommendations addressed to the Agency by the above-mentioned control bodies at each regular Management Board meeting.