Greece must face punishment over abuses against migrants, Frontex official says

ATHENS — The European Union’s border agency is so frustrated with Greece’s repeated pushbacks of migrants that it is considering calling on Brussels to bring disciplinary proceedings against Athens, a Frontex official told POLITICO and WELT. 

Fundamental Rights Officer Jonas Grimheden, who makes recommendations to the organization’s management board, said Greece’s behavior presented Frontex with two options: suspending its mission, or asking the European Commission to open infringement proceedings against Greece.

Grimheden stressed, however, that halting work would not best serve the agency’s mission because there had to be oversight of the Greek government. 

“If Frontex were to leave Greece, there would no longer be any way to learn how the authorities are dealing with arriving migrants. The agency ensures monitoring and transparency,” he said.

Which leaves a potential appeal to the Commission to take action as Brussels controls the majority of funding for Greece’s border support, according to Grimheden.

“There must be some kind of punishment. The Commission itself is capable of initiating infringement proceedings against a member state,” Grimheden said. “Frontex cannot solve the problem alone.”

He suggested the Commission could link Greece’s progress on the human rights of migrants to its access to funds. In an extreme case, if Athens continues to shirk its responsibilities to migrants, the Commission could initiate legal proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU.

Grimheden’s remarks come hard on the heels of a threat by the agency to cut funding for coast guard vessels, cofinanced with Frontex, unless the Greeks implemented core recommendations on migration policy.

The Commission did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Back in May 2023, the EU called on Greece to investigate allegations of migrants being abandoned at sea and of deportations by its authorities.

Greece currently has 13 open cases into alleged human rights violations involving migrants, the single largest number of incidents across the bloc. In 2024, nearly a third of Frontex’s 56 open cases involved the country.  

“Greece remains our biggest problem in terms of human rights,” said Grimheden, who has been Frontex’s fundamental rights officer since 2021.

In 2023, Grimheden also suggested temporarily suspending the agency’s activities in Greece over fundamental rights abuses, which it can do under its own Article 46.

If the agency were to suspend its mission, however, that would mean pulling vessels, border guards and aircraft from one of the busiest migration corridors in Europe. Frontex previously told POLITICO it had made specific suggestions for Greece to implement — with potential repercussions if ignored.

In the most recent incident on April 3, at least seven migrants, including two children, died when their boat sank near the Greek island of Lesbos after the Hellenic Coast Guard intervened, according to a complaint Frontex received. Frontex has opened an investigation and is currently gathering photographic and video evidence and survivor testimony, and is reaching out to Greek officials for comment. 

An official from the Greek coast guard said the complaint came from one of the 23 rescued migrants. The coast guard alleged the boat was packed with people, leading it to capsize.

Many of the open cases are related to the alleged forced removals of thousands of people by Greek migration officials at land borders and at sea. The practice, known as pushback, is illegal under the United Nations Refugee Convention and international law. In January, the European Court of Human Rights found Greek authorities guilty of conducting systematic pushbacks of migrants and of violating human rights law in the process.

(Frontex itself faced allegations of misconduct in its handling of migrants and using pushback tactics in 2022, leading to the resignation of its chief.)

In June 2023, hundreds of migrants died at sea when a fishing boat sank off the coast of Greece’s southern peninsula while trying to reach Europe from Libya. An independent investigation by the Greek Ombudsman recommended disciplinary action for eight Hellenic coast guards involved in the incident.

Since Europe’s so-called migration crisis, when a million asylum seekers, mostly Syrian, made their way to Europe’s borders in 2015 in search of respite from civil wars, famine and conflict, the bloc has hardened its stance on migration. Most recently, the EU has drawn up a list of seven countries it deemed to be safe for people to return to, making the asylum application process more difficult for nationals of those countries. 

“The humanitarian work of the Greek coast guard is unquestionable and that is precisely why it is widely recognized over time,” Hellenic Coast Guard Press Officer Nikolaos Alexiou told POLITICO.

“In the event of possible deviations from the required behavior, internal investigation and monitoring mechanisms are triggered, independently of or in parallel with the judicial proceedings or investigations conducted by other competent authorities. The Greek coast guard fully cooperates with these authorities.”

During a Greek government press briefing last week, spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis responded to POLITICO’s reporting that Frontex was considering rowing back funding for coast guard vessels by saying Frontex had made no threat officially.

“Our country is the one that protects Europe’s maritime borders in the vast majority of arrivals,” he said. “In any case, Frontex investigates all complaints, even those from unconfirmed sources.”

Officials from the Greek government did not respond to a request for a comment.