A report from Politico reveals that Greece may lose funding from Frontex, the European Union’s border and coast guard agency, as it investigates 12 open cases of potential human rights violations involving migrants at the its borders. These cases represent the largest number of ongoing investigations by any country in the EU. Most of the cases involve allegations of forced removals, or "pushbacks," of thousands of migrants by Greek authorities at both land and sea borders. Pushbacks are considered illegal under the U.N. Refugee Convention and international law.

According to Politico, Frontex has stated that it will make specific suggestions for Greece to implement, warning of potential consequences if these recommendations are ignored.

“The executive director of Frontex has said that he expects all these recommendations to be implemented. Otherwise, he would consider reducing or cutting funding for co-financed assets,” said Chris Borowski, spokesman for the EU border agency Frontex. Those co-financed assets refer to a number of Greek coast guard vessels.

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

In January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights found Greek authorities guilty of conducting systematic pushbacks of migrants, and violating human rights law in the process. The EU has previously called on Greece to investigate allegations of migrants being abandoned at sea and deportations by its authorities.”

“We are now putting fundamental rights at the heart of these negotiations. In the past, this discussion happened towards the end of the negotiations, so they were kind of a secondary issue, but now they’re really the core of these negotiations,” said Borowski.

The Politico report also highlights the tragic Pylos incident in 2023 when hundreds of migrants died when a fishing boat sank off the southern coast of Greece while trying to reach Europe from Libya. Following the incident, Greek Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis launched an independent investigation after the Hellenic coast guard explicitly refused to conduct its own. The independent investigation recommended disciplinary action for eight coast guards involved in the incident.

As a result, Frontex‘s Fundamental Rights Officer, Jonas Grimheden, recommended temporarily suspending the agency’s operations in Greece. However, the Greek government has denied all allegations.

“We really have to work together to continue to improve our cooperation in ways that are effective,” said Borowski. “There are these two sides of the same coin, protecting borders but also protecting our values, protecting fundamental rights, respecting the dignity of the people we’re dealing with.”

Politico also highlights the normalisation of anti-migration policies in Greece, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently appointing the far-right Makis Voridis as Minister for Migration, further intensifying the anti-migration rhetoric. Mitsotakis himself stated in a meeting of European leaders in March that Greece would lead the EU’s efforts to strengthen migrant returns.

Borowski commented to Politico that “Europe’s efforts and presence (referring to Frontex’s presence in search and rescue zones) are essential,” because “any kind of rapid withdrawal would also jeopardize rescue operations in the area. It’s a very complicated and difficult decision. There are other ways to deal with this, and one of them is to reduce funding,” he added.

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