Madrid/Brussels, 5 March 2020 – Access Info Europe today joined Open Knowledge Germany and more than 40 civil society organisations in calling on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to stop imposing legal fees on activists and human rights defenders in order to prevent them from exercising their right to access information.
In a letter sent to the Frontex Director, Fabrice Leggeri, and the Head of Legal and Procurement Unit, Hervé Caniard, the organisations ask the EU agency to retract the lawyers’ bill passed to activists Luisa Izuzquiza and Arne Semsrott, who had presented the first access to EU documents case against Frontex before the General Court of the European Union.
The letter’s signatories denounce the lack of transparency of this EU agency as well as its tactics to hinder any attempt by citizens to access information related to its activities.
“It is not a question of money. Frontex has an annual budget of billions. It is about intimidating citizens, silencing activists, and dissuading people from requesting information, which is inadmissible for a European Union agency,” stated Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe.
Full letter is now available here 
For more information, please contact:
Helen Darbishire, Executive Director | Access Info Europe
helen[at]access-info.org +34 637 226 609
Paula Domínguez, Communications Officer | Access Info Europe
paula[at]access-info.org +34 913 656 558