PRESS RELEASE – Strasbourg, 16 April 2014  The European Parliament today voted to confirm new EU legislation governing sea missions by FRONTEX, the EU’s border management agency. The Greens acknowledged some improvements in the new rules but expressed concern that it will still fail to offer full protection to MEPs.…

The regulation on Frontex operations at sea sets new rules for intercepting and pushing back migrants at sea as well as for rescuing them. It replaces the current Council decision of 2010, which was struck down by the European Court of Justice because the European Parliament was unlawfully excluded from…

Some days ago I received an email that really got me and made me very angry. Someone from my constituency told me about the experience of his Syrian relative at the Greek-Turkish border who tried to reach the shores of Greece on a rubber boat. “A military vessel stopped next…

Budget My report on the negotiations on the budget has been adopted. The Committee wants more financial resources for the funds for refugees and integration as well as for programs to come, which have not been decided yet. But we lost two amendments: the majority of committee members wants the…

Budget mandate Ska presented her report on the freedom, security and justice related matters in the negotiations on the 2012 budget. We propose to base the budget on the Stockholm Programme as this defines the Union’s priorities in the area. We ask for a proper evaluation of existing programs and projects before…

News of the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) New mandate for Frontex Unfortunately we lost most of our own amendments in the votes of the new mandate Frontex: we could not find a majority for our postulations to clarify the responsibilities for the Agency, to prevent…