Probe into EU border agency's 'very worrying' role in forcing refugees out

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) faces allegations of abuses of  migrants which were described as “very worrying” by Brussels, AFP reports.

According to the news agency, Frontex is under investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the EU’s independent corruption watchdog, over allegations of illegal pushbacks of migrants heading to Greek waters from Turkey in its effort to stem the flow of refugees and asylum seekers.

This comes only weeks after Frontex suspended its operation in Hungry as a result of the latter’s continued moves to push back migrants into Serbia – in violation of a European Court of Justice ruling in December.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees used Greece as their entry point to Europe through Turkey in 2015 and 2016, until a deal between Ankara and the EU reduced the flow.

Turkey hosts more than three million refugees and migrants, many from neighbouring Syria, while tens of thousands are waiting in Greece for asylum applications to be processed, mostly in camps where conditions have been described as dire.

READ: Sharp drop in migrants entering EU from Turkey