iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It's more than 3 years since Frontex Executive Director promised to make the EU border agency more transparent. We're all still waiting...

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"What we see, we pass on". And that's precisely the problem. That's precisely how Frontex becomes routinely complicit in a regime of deadly pushbacks and pullbacks, as documented by the agency itself. Detect, alert, share, and, occasionally, drown, would be be a more accurate motto.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

It's about the transformation of the Aegean into Europe's carceral archipelago. Amidst the 'death worlds' of Moria, it's about the stubborn refusal to accept the disposability of the lives of others. And it's about the way these spaces of unruly solidarity are now being policed and eviscerated (4/4)

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

It's about everyday resistance - individual and collective, quiet and loud. It's about the everyday encounters between volunteers and refugees through which the boundaries that separate become unsettled. It's about the ways refugees claim their dignity, rights, and presence in public spheres. (3/4)

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Told through the testimonies of those warehoused in EU-funded refugee camps and the thousands of ordinary citizens who set up vital infrastructures of support, the book is about the lived experiments in solidarity - precarious, fraught, ambivalent - that emerged on the Greek islands in 2015. (2/4)

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

My book, Unruly Subjects, is out with @manchesterup.bsky.social 📘✨ For the last decade, I’ve been researching Europe’s border struggles in Greece, in the Aegean archipelago. It's a look at how people - citizens and non-citizens - carve out spaces of hope amidst state violence and abandonment. (1/4)

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

What's more, Europol even tried to concoct a bizarre legal argument to carve out an exception for the minutes of its principal decision-making body from any future FOI requests. The Ombudsman did not buy it.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Protecting internal decision-making processes? Nope.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Protection of audits? "...it was not readily clear that those parts of the documents contain 'sensitive details'...."

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Safeguarding "frank, objective and comprehensive legal advice"? "...the Ombudsman considered that they do not appear to contain legal advice...and that it was thus unclear why Europol relied on this exception to redact the relevant parts of the meeting minutes."

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Protecting public security? "not readily clear how such a risk would occur"

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Delighted to read in Europol's internal correspondence that a certain "researcher & journo" (👀) "appears" merely "to be dissatisfied"; that there is "no issue" in the way the agency handles FOI requests. Let's review the record of just one recent complaint, shall we?

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Reviewing internal records obtained via FOI, we found that repeated alerts by Frontex's own Fundamental Rights Office, not just about pushbacks, but Greece's failure to comply with basic rights safeguards - such as cameras on Frontex co-financed vessels - have gone unheeded.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

More than three years after Hans Leijtens vowed to make Frontex more transparent - this is the state of play: its most senior decision-making body insulated from virtually any public scrutiny.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

For years, Europol invoked the 'international relations' exception to refuse access to exchanges with other EU bodies like Frontex. This seemed like BS to me. So I complained to the European Ombudswoman last year, who has now confirmed that Europol was wrong.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Excessive delays, redactions, refusals - there are not many wins in the struggle to make Europol more transparent. But, after years of legalistic gaslighting, Europol now finally acknowledges that its interpretation of EU law was erroneous all along; and has vowed to amend its internal FOI rules.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Just when you think you've seen all the absurdities from Frontex's 'transparency' office...you learn that the EU border agency is fighting 'criminals' by redacting sub-heading (of the minutes of its Fundamental Rights Compliance Panel). Orwell wept, once again.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

If only Frontex officers were as keen to respond to people in distress when *on* duty, and to report human rights violations when they witness them, as obliged under the agency's code of conduct. balkaninsight.com/2024/09/06/e...

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Meanwhile, at least we now know the latest grotesque euphemism Frontex deploys for the murderous tactics - such as boat rammings - routinely used by border authorities to deter migrants at sea: 'dynamic engagement' Orwell wept.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Contrary to what its name might suggest, the Panel is not chaired by Frontex' quasi-independent Fundamental Rights Officer. Instead, it's run by Deputy Director Lars Gerdes and the Operational Division - which, it seems, intends to keep a tight lid on the question of transparency.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Nor are EU citizens entitled to know basic details of how Frontex is responding to the continuous stream of evidence of border crimes committed in Frontex joint operations in Greece - all in the name, with no hint of irony, of safeguarding 'public security' and the 'modus operandi' of border police.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

In fact, EU citizens - according to the agency's response to my FOI requests - are not even entitled to know the headings of some of the items on the FRCP's agenda.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

The Fundamental Rights Compliance Panel was launched by Frontex to much internal fanfare last year. It's the principal body where senior managers meet to deliberate about fundamental rights aspects of FX operations. As much else with the agency, its work is shrouded by opacity, however.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Meanwhile, just a week before this Serious Incident Report was finalised, Frontex issued another glowing celebration of its Greek counterparts, and its operational presence in the very same area where this crime, and countless others, have taken place in recent years.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Another day inside @frontex.bsky.social's FOI archives. Another border crime, meticulously documented, with apparently zero consequences for anyone involved.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

...the shared solitude of reading and writing... @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social 🙏

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

No doubt, Frontex will brush these findings aside; there will be no serious follow-up actions. One need only consider the tepid recommendations issued by the FRO: no call for the officers responsible to be sanctioned or banned from taking part in Frontex's Joint Operation.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

In a damning internal report, @frontex.bsky.social concludes that its partners-in-crime - the Bulgaria border police - are responsible for abandoning three children, who were left to freeze to death last winter. www.dw.com/bg/lzite-na-...

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

There’s a lot of gaslighting involved in pursuing access to these sorts of documents. Frontex's legal team has turned legalistic bullshitting into an art form. So it’s reassuring that the European Ombudsman sees straight through it — and calls it out for what it is.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Access to documents is not a bureaucratic nicety or a favour granted by Frontex. It’s a "special fundamental right", as the ECJ has recognised. When authorities violate it, they weaken every citizen’s ability to take part in democratic life.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

It's clear that these documents should never have been kept secret. I should never have had to go to the Ombudsman for redress. They should have been released when I first requested them in May 2024. Crucially, the Ombudsman found that Frontex's use of the 'public security' exception was baseless.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

More evidence of Europol's apparent disregard for legal norms and boundaries - this time from Lesvos, where its officers appear to be behaving like secret intelligence agents, misusing Frontex activities to interrogate migrants.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

You'd think that Frontex-the EU's €1 billion border and *coastguard* agency-would manage to cover at least the basics of humanitarian assistance. Apparently not. Apparently, they'd have much to learn from the grassroots SAR teams they crowded out from the shores of Greek islands ten years ago.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

41 MEPs call upon the European Commission to initiate an independent inquiry into large-scale unlawful transfers of personal data between @frontex.bsky.social and @europol.europa.eu following our investigation for El Pais, Le Monde, Solomon, and Netzpolitik.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

For @gesanchez.bsky.social - leading expert on smuggling - 'EU agencies often justify harvesting personal data from migrants by claiming it is necessary to combat sophisticated...smuggling networks. This creates the illusion that the data is actually reliable or useful. We know it's neither.'

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Frontex revised its protocols after a probe by the EU data protection watchdog in May 2023. To Europol's chagrin, it is no longer passing data 'automatically'. But, crucially, Europol is refusing to confirm it will 'restrict' or 'delete' data - unlawfully shared by Frontex - as required by law.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

It appears that @frontex.bsky.social has learnt absolutely nothing about transparency since the Legerri era, as it continues to keep internal deliberations about rights violations secret from the public. Transparency still appears to be considered an optional add-on, not a fundamental right.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

The original text containing the racist remark remains firmly off-bounds for public consumption, of course.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

It's taken some 18 months, and the intervention of the @ombudsman.europa.eu to get @europol.europa.eu to disclose this one sentence - the agency's fundamental rights officer calling out casual racism in internal reporting. This is not just a colossal waste of public resources...

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Why exactly does @theguardian.com feature ads, and thus benefit financially, from the Israeli government advertising agency in times of genocide? How exactly are ads like this in line with its own advertising policy (let alone basic decency)?

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

The @ec.europa.eu has really perfected the art of evading parliamentary scrutiny. Here's the Migration Commissioner's de facto non-answer to MEP Alice Kuhnke's question on DG HOME channeling EU funds to Bulgaria, despite being fully aware of widespread abuses in Frontex operations.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Bravo. Though, revealingly, @frontex.bsky.social deems it in the "public interest" to keep the mission reports of its human rights monitors hidden from EU citizens. It will be interesting to see what the @ombudsman.europa.eu makes of that. www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/case/en/6...

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Despite being told by the Ombudsman that its practice of systematically refusing to provide #FOI requesters with a list of identified documents constitutes maladministration, Frontex has, in my experience, not changed its practice. It is evidently an obstructionist tactic too precious to give up.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

In the first case, @frontex.bsky.social rejected the Ombudsman's interpretation of EU law. The message, signed off by Hans Leijtens, was basically that compliance with the EU public administration watchdog is an “ad hoc”, “case-by-case” matter. www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/decision/...

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Here's the rest of the document that Frontex doesn't want the public to see, based on the warped logic that greater transparency - regarding Greek authorities' failure to report and investigate their own crimes - would undermine the agency's "internal decision-making" processes.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

The figure is featured in this report to the Frontex Management Board by its Fundamental Rights Officer obtained via a #FOI request. Greece accounts for more than 1/3 of all 183 Category 1 Serious Incident Reports issued since 2022.

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Luděk Stavinoha @stavinoha.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Once again, Frontex's legal team deployed a series of spurious arguments to justify non-disclosure, which left the European Ombudsman thoroughly unimpressed - offering a compelling rebuttal of the agency's expansive use of the "public security" and "internal decision-making" exceptions.

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