Gates of Europe: Episode 2 – Rescue or Pushback?

Filmed over three years, with access to the controversial European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, this series investigates how Europe guards its borders. Across four episodes, the series follows the agency’s new director, border guards, politicians, activists and survivors. Can Europe protect its borders while safeguarding human rights at the same time?

What happens when people in distress at sea find themselves in danger? Who is responsible for intervening? And who bears responsibility when no one does? The consequences of European border policy become visible in the Mediterranean. As Europe shifts its focus from rescue to border control, Frontex conducts surveillance flights over the sea. The border agency’s primary task is not rescue. Aid organisations try to fill the resulting gap, while the Libyan coast guard intercepts thousands of people and pushes them back to unsafe Libya. Does Europe want to save people or keep them out?