With this book, Amélie Poméon won the Hanneke Steenbergen Scriptie Prijs 2016 (prize for the best master thesis in the fi eld of migration law in the Netherlands for the year 2015/2016). Hanneke Steenbergen taught migration law at the University of Leiden and was highly dedicated to the promotion of migration law education. After her death, a commemorative foundation was established, the primary purpose of which is to award a yearly prize stimulating research and interest in migration law issues.
This book discusses the question to what extent Frontex (and, to a more limited degree, its successor, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency) can be held accountable for breaches of EU law acting both inside and outside EU territory.
The issues covered include a detailed discussion of Frontex' tasks and competences, the legal position and status of EU agencies, agency accountability and the distinction between the notions of accountability and responsibility as well as the extraterritorial applicability of EU law. It also addresses the question whether an individual complaint mechanism can and should be introduced within the Agency's setup.
"Amélie provides with her thesis an almost encyclopedic document about Frontex, the European Agency for management of operational cooperation at the external borders of the European Union. Frontex plays an important role in protecting external borders and therefore has a direct impact on many people's lives. [...] Worth mentioning is that she took an interesting approach by incorporating interviews with various experts on the ground. [...] So, a very thorough piece of work on a problem that maintains to be in the forefront of every ones attention."
Jury report Hanneke Steenbergen scriptieprijs 2016