Image: Sea-Watch
Sea-Watch took Frontex to court after the agency refused to release documents on “the illegal interception of people in distress by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard,” says a letter drafted by the group.
The EU court dismissed the case, although it did state that Frontex had unlawfully failed to disclose the existence of over a hundred photographs relating to the incident in the Mediterranean.
Now, Frontex, which in 2024 had a budget of almost €1 billion, wants its legal costs paid by Sea-Watch.
The letter, demanding that the agency drop its claim, has been signed by more than 30 organisations, including Statewatch.
Frontex appears to be the only EU entity that takes this approach with regard to court cases by civil society groups.
In 2020 the agency sought €24,000 from two transparency activists and defended the practice in front of MEPs. They later reduced the bill, though did not write it off completely.
Frontex has also sought legal costs from asylum-seekers trying to take it to court.
17 July 2025
Open letter from Sea-Watch e.V.
Dear Mr. Leijtens,
Frontex is once again obstructing democratic scrutiny.
Your agency is demanding that we — a civil society organisation — pay €11,093.32 in court costs, for a legal case that arose because Frontex refused to release documents related to a clear human rights violation. This demand is an act of institutional intimidation designed to deter public oversight and silence accountability efforts.
In 2021, we filed a Freedom of Information request for documents and footage related to the involvement of a Frontex asset in the illegal interception of people in distress by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard in the Maltese Search and Rescue zone. Frontex repeatedly refused to disclose these despite their clear relevance. This forced us to take the matter before the General Court of the EU.
Although the Court dismissed the case, it explicitly acknowledged that Frontex unlawfully failed to disclose the mere existence of over a hundred of photographs. Rather than accepting responsibility or acting on its supposed commitment to transparency, your agency is now seeking to punish us for demanding what EU law already guarantees: access to information.
This is not an isolated incident. In 2023, as in 2021, the European Parliament called on Frontex “to immediately end its practice of demanding that applicants cover the costs of external lawyers in court cases related to access-to-information requests.”
When you first took over the position as Executive Director from Fabrice Leggeri, who lied to the European Parliament, prevented investigation in human rights violations and now holds a seat in the European Parliament in the far right political group, you built a campaign around a change of culture. By now it is clear that the culture of disrespect towards civil society and the European Parliament, as well as the agencies’ deliberate concealment regarding human rights and accountability, continues under your watch.
We demand that Frontex immediately withdraw its claim for legal costs.
Stop persecuting civil society. Drop the invoice.
Sincerely,
Sea-Watch e.V
Supporting signatories
Access Now
All Included Amsterdam
Alternatif Bilisim
Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI)
Beim Namen Nennen
Border Violence Monitoring Network
Bürgerinitiative ASYL e.V. Jena
Campaign Against Arms Trade
CompassCollective
De:criminalise e.V.
Digitale Gesellschaft e.V.
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
End Deportations Belfast
Epicenter.works – for digital rights
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice
FragDenStaat
Handbreit (MV Louise Michel)
Hermes Center
Homo Digitalis
MEDITERRANEA Saving Humans
Migreurop
Mission Lifeline International e.V.
Netzwerk Migrationscharta.ch
Open Arms
PICUM (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants)
Politiscope
Privacy International
R42 Sail and Rescue
Seebrücke
SOLIDAR
SOS Humanity e.V.
Statewatch
UNITED Against Refugee Deaths
Watch the Med Alarm Phone
