‘Absurd’: French right-wing party slams former Frontex boss joining far-right

9 months ago 32

Before officially joining the French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN), former Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri had been in contact with the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) party “for several months”, a person close to the delegation in the EU Parliament has said.

Read the original French story here.

Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN), which is part of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament, has just scored a major political win.

On Sunday (18 February) it announced that the former executive director of the EU’s border agency Frontex, Frenchman Fabrice Leggeri, would be the third member of its list for the EU elections in June.

But RN was not alone in the race to secure Leggeri and his expertise on migration issues, as he was also in “contact” with Les Républicains (LR), part of the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament.

More specifically, he has been in contact with the head of the party’s delegation in Brussels, François-Xavier Bellamy, “for several months”, a person close to the delegation confirmed to Euractiv France.

The news that Leggeri has opted for the RN is, therefore, a hard pill to swallow for senior LR members.

An “absurd choice”?

Founded in 2004, Frontex helps EU countries manage the bloc’s external borders and fight cross-border crime.

Leggeri led the EU agency for seven years, from 2015 to 2022, when he stepped down.

While he claims he was disillusioned with the EU’s immigration policy, his critics say he was forced out because of alleged mismanagement and illegal practices.

The 55-year-old graduate of ENA, an elite school attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and many other high-ranking French officials, was in talks with the LR delegation “until the last few days”, a source close to the LR delegation in the European Parliament confirmed to Euractiv France.

LR has since slammed Leggeri’s choice to join RN. The source described it as “absurd”, considering “the RN never stopped attacking Frontex when he was its executive director”.

On Monday (19 February), Bardella reiterated a statement from his 2019 EU election campaign, saying that Frontex acted like a “hostess for migrants”.

However, Leggeri was evidently not put off by the criticism – indeed echoing it himself when he announced his candidacy for the RN on Saturday, saying that “the European Commission has turned Frontex into a super-NGO for migrants”.

Responding to LR’s criticism, the president of the RN delegation in the European Parliament, MEP Jean-Paul Garraud, called the party “absurd and ridiculous”.

“They [the LR] pretend not to know that Mr Leggeri was ‘fired’ from Frontex precisely because he was doing his real job, which is to guard the borders and not to run an agency to receive migrants…” Garraud, who previously belonged to the LR’s predecessor party UMP, told Euractiv France.

In the end, the LR’s comments are nothing more than disillusionment, he continued, adding: “They have to find something to say.”

A U-turn for Le Pen?

Regardless, Leggeri joining the RN marks a “U-turn by Marine Le Pen” and her party, LR’s leader in the National Assembly Olivier Marleix told Euractiv France.

“Until now, Ms Le Pen said that borders could only be a matter for member states, and certainly not for Europe. Now Ms Le Pen is telling us that they should also be the responsibility of Europe,” he said, slamming the RN’s inconsistency on the issue.

“I believe in a simple principle: that of the double border,” Bardella retorted on Monday from the French town of Menton, which he visited with Leggeri as the first trip of his candidacy.

The choice of Menton itself can be seen as a further snub to the LR, as it is the political home of LR President Eric Ciotti.

Migration remains a “national prerogative” for which “Frontex must be a supporting force”, Bardella continued while arguing in favour of increasing the EU agency’s resources, despite his party voting against such a move in an EU Parliament vote in 2018.

Leggeri’s decision to join the RN rather than the LR may also be linked to the RN doing far better in the polls, with 30% compared to just 7-8% for the LR.

With such a result, LR risks falling below the 5% threshold needed to send MEPs to the European Parliament.

“Leggeri wants to be sure of being elected, which is not the case with LR,” said an RN strategist quoted by Politico.