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03 October 2019 "In 2018 we helped save more than 88 thousand lives. This year, until today, we have helped more than 30 thousand people in difficulty at sea. With more than 1,100 search and rescue operations". These are the numbers provided by the executive director of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, speaking at the hearing of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (Libe). "More than 20 thousand people were rescued with Poseidon in Greece, 15 thousand with the Indalo operation in Spain, then 2 thousand with the Themis operation in the center of the Mediterranean," he added.

"Frontex cannot propose a maritime operation and intervene with coast guard boats without prior agreement of the place of disembarkation. Therefore we cannot send boats, we cannot start an operation without prior agreement on the landing site, especially in situations in which concerns possible illegal migrants who would be saved at sea - explained Leggeri - But there is no legal vacuum, the law of the sea is very clear: the people saved must be transported to the nearest safe harbor ".

"As the executive director of the agency it is not my prerogative to decide whether Libya is a safe haven or not. I never said though it is," Leggeri explained. On this passage comes the clarification of Michael Shotter, director of the EU commission on migration and the protection he reiterated: "The position of the EU Commission is that Libya is not a safe haven".