BRUSSELS: The EU watchdog on Wednesday announced a probe into the bloc’s border patrol agency Frontex over its actions after a boat packed with migrants off Greece sank last month, killing hundreds.
The investigation is “aimed at clarifying Frontex’s role in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean sea following the drowning of hundreds of people off the coast of Greece on 14 June,” ombudsman Emily O’Reilly said in a statement.
The independent probe by the European Union watchdog — which looks into suspected cases of poor administration by EU bodies — was launched on O’Reilly’s own initiative.
It adds to two investigations Greece says it has started: a criminal one into alleged smugglers it blames for the tragedy, and another into the actions of its coast guard.
The boat that sank, an overcrowded fishing trawler, was carrying up to 750 people picked up in Libya who sought to cross the Mediterranean to irregularly enter Europe.
Around 100 of them were saved, but it is thought that some 600 drowned, according to Greek figures relayed by EU commissioner Ylva Johansson to the European Parliament in early July.
O’Reilly spoke of “the deaths of at least 500 people.”
EU lawmakers in that hearing expressed skepticism that the Greek probes into the sinking would be adequately carried out. They called for an independent and transparent investigation.
Athens has already rejected survivors’ accounts that the Greek coast guard tied a rope to the drifting vessel and then powered off, causing it to capsize.
O’Reilly said her office’s investigation would be carried out in coordination with the Greek ombudsman’s office.
It will request a “wide range” of Frontex documents on the sinking, including an internal Serious Incident Report, as well as those related to other incidents in the Mediterranean.
One aspect will focus on rules about the use of cameras on boats during joint operations.
That could yield information as to why state-of-the-art cameras on a Greek coast guard vessel near the migrant boat were switched off at the time of its sinking.
The probe would also examine how Frontex and national authorities in EU member states share search and rescue information, and what role they give to ships run by charities that carry out rescue operations.
Frontex chief Hans Leijtens, in the same July 6 European Parliament hearing as Johansson, said that, on the night of the sinking, “we offered to help, but there was no response from Greek authorities.”
On Wednesday, Leijtens posted a social media message welcoming the EU investigation and saying he “will cooperate in full transparency.”
O’Reilly said: “A tragedy of this magnitude requires all those involved to reflect on their responsibilities and to be clear to the public who is accountable for these deaths.”
She said her office’s probe will “try to piece together the events that led to the capsizing of the boat.”
The investigation will also weigh how the EU lives up to its commitments on maintaining fundamental rights when it comes to migration “and does not lose sight of the human suffering that compels people to seek a better life beyond their home countries,” she said.
O’Reilly said she planned future investigations into the EU’s migration and border policies, including one into a deal struck with Tunisia to curb migrant departures from its shores.
EU watchdog probes Frontex’s action in Greece boat tragedy
https://arab.news/msf8m
EU watchdog probes Frontex’s action in Greece boat tragedy
- It adds to two investigations Greece says it has started: a criminal one into alleged smugglers it blames for the tragedy, and another into the actions of its coast guard
Culture being strangled by Kosovo’s political crisis
- Cultural institutions have been among the hardest-hit sectors, as international funding dried up and local decisions were stalled by the parliamentary crisis
PRIZREN: Kosovo’s oldest cinema has been dark and silent for years as the famous theater slowly disintegrates under a leaky roof.
Signs warn passers-by in the historic city of Prizren that parts of the Lumbardhi’s crumbling facade could fall while it waits for its long-promised refurbishment.
“The city deserves to have the cinema renovated and preserved. Only junkies gathering there benefit from it now,” nextdoor neighbor butcher Arsim Futko, 62, told AFP.
For seven years, it waited for a European Union-funded revamp, only for the money to be suddenly withdrawn with little explanation.
Now it awaits similar repairs promised by the national government that has since been paralyzed by inconclusive elections in February.
And it is anyone’s guess whether the new government that will come out of Sunday’s snap election will keep the promise.
- ‘Collateral damage’ -
Cinema director Ares Shporta said the cinema has become “collateral damage” in a broader geopolitical game after the EU hit his country with sanctions in 2023.
The delayed repairs “affected our morale, it affected our lives, it affected the trust of the community in us,” Shporta said.
Brussels slapped Kosovo with sanctions over heightened tensions between the government and the ethnic Serb minority that live in parts of the country as Pristina pushed to exert more control over areas still tightly linked to Belgrade.
Cultural institutions have been among the hardest-hit sectors, as international funding dried up and local decisions were stalled by the parliamentary crisis.
According to an analysis by the Kosovo think tank, the GAP Institute for Advanced Studies, sanctions have resulted in around 613 million euros ($719 million) being suspended or paused, with the cultural sector taking a hit of 15-million-euro hit.
- ‘Ground zero’ -
With political stalemate threatening to drag on into another year, there are warnings that further funding from abroad could also be in jeopardy.
Since February’s election when outgoing premier Albin Kurti topped the polls but failed to win a majority, his caretaker government has been deadlocked with opposition lawmakers.
Months of delays, spent mostly without a parliament, meant little legislative work could be done.
Ahead of the snap election on Sunday, the government said that more than 200 million euros ($235 million) will be lost forever due to a failure to ratify international agreements.
Once the top beneficiary of the EU Growth Plan in the Balkans, Europe’s youngest country now trails most of its neighbors, the NGO Group for Legal and Political Studies’ executive director Njomza Arifi told AFP.
“While some of the countries in the region have already received the second tranches, Kosovo still remains at ground zero.”
Although there have been some enthusiastic signs of easing a half of EU sanctions by January, Kurti’s continued push against Serbian institutions and influence in the country’s north continues to draw criticism from both Washington and Brussels.
- ‘On the edge’ -
Across the river from the Lumbardhi, the funding cuts have also been felt at Dokufest, a documentary and short film festival that draws people to the region.
“The festival has had to make staff cuts. Unfortunately, there is a risk of further cuts if things don’t change,” Dokufest artistic director Veton Nurkollari said.
“Fortunately, we don’t depend on just one source because we could end up in a situation where, when the tap is turned off, everything is turned off.”
He said that many in the cultural sector were desperate for the upcoming government to get the sanctions lifted by ratification of the agreements that would allow EU funds to flow again.
“Kosovo is the only one left on the edge and without these funds.”
