Following the Adriana tragedy on 10 June 2023, which resulted in over 600 people drowning off the coast of Greece, an inquiry was launched by Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly. 

The inquiry concluded inter alia that:

• The current rules leave the EU’s Border and Coast Guard Agency unable fully to fulfil its fundamental rights obligations and too reliant on Member States to act when boats carrying migrants are in distress. In the context of the above-mentioned tragedy, Frontex was not permitted to go to the Adriana’s location at critical periods without the Greek authorities’ permission. 
   
• Where Frontex deems that national authorities are persistently failing to fulfil their search and rescue (SAR) obligations, or are otherwise involved in fundamental rights violations, and/or where national authorities are constraining the SAR role and capacity of Frontex, this should lead the Executive Director to consider whether the threshold has been reached that would allow Frontex to terminate, withdraw or suspend its activities. 
   
• Frontex has no internal guidelines regarding the issuance of Mayday calls, despite the very specific and complex nature of its surveillance activities. Frontex should therefore reflect on whether the parameters by which it assesses maritime emergencies it detects through its surveillance, and the resulting potential need to issue Mayday relays, are wide enough to encompass the particular elements of migrant boats and Frontex’s surveillance activities.

Going beyond the inquiry, the Ombudsman called upon the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission to establish an independent commission of inquiry to assess the reasons for the large numbers of deaths in the Mediterranean, to learn the lessons from incidents such as the Adriana shipwreck, and to make recommendations on how to protect fundamental rights and the right to life in the response to maritime emergencies. 

For further information, please read the press release of the European Ombudsman.