Fabrice Leggeri, the former head of the EU border agency Frontex, who will run for the Rassemblement Nationale in European elections, criticised European migration policies during a trip to the Franco-Italian border on Monday (19 February), Euractiv reports.
On Saturday (17 February), Leggeri, the former head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, announced that he was joining the National Rassemblement’s list for the European elections.
On Monday, Leggeri made his first trip as a candidate to Menton, a city in southern France on the border with Italy, together with Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rassemblement and head of the party’s list for the European elections. Leggeri said at the Menton border post:
“I am joining Jordan Bardella’s list because I want France and Europe to regain control of their borders. Frontex has been hijacked by the European Commission and we need to return it to its role as a border guard.”
Leggeri has been accused regularly by non-governmental organisations of condoning the illegal removal of migrants. According to German newspaper Spiegel, he has been implicated in “pushbacks” – denying migrants without processing their asylum claims.
Bardella told reporters that “Frontex must be refocused on the mission of defending our borders and our civilisation, as Fabrice Leggeri wanted to do”. Bardella said on X on Sunday, explaining that he was going to Menton to question Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who he sent an open letter to:
“European law prohibits France from fighting illegal immigration at its borders and protecting the French.”
He criticised the French government for its decision on 2 February to end the “non-admission” system, which allows illegal immigrants to return immediately to their country of origin. He also said Europe must “take back control of its borders”.
In 2023, at the Franco-Italian border, the “non-admission” system allowed the return of 33,000 migrants out of 44,000 intercepted. Bardella added:
“Granting additional rights to individuals who wish to enter our country illegally deprives the French people of their collective right to live in security.”
From Menton, Bardella wrote on X that “unless Gérald Darmanin decides to limit refusals of entry, the number of illegal migrants here in Menton, on the Franco-Italian border, will double”.
In an interview in Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, Leggeri said the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact allowed the European Commission to “encourage the influx of migrants.”
