On the occasion of the third joint Romanian-Italian government meeting, held in Rome on February 14-15, 2024, Cătălin Predoiu, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs, and his counterpart, Matteo Piantedosi, had a bilateral meeting during which they addressed topics of interest on the bilateral and European agenda in the field of internal affairs.
During the meeting, the two officials agreed on the need to capitalize on the existing bilateral cooperation tools – joint investigative teams (JITs), task forces or the sending of Romanian policemen on a mission to Italian territory – in order to ensure the security of its own citizens. In this regard, they established, by signing a Letter of Intent, a calendar of actions that will contribute to strengthening collaboration in the field of preventing and combating crime.
The two dignitaries appreciated that the continuous evolution of computer crime and its transnational nature require the strengthening of cooperation in the field of combating computer crime. During the discussions, the Minister of Internal Affairs specified that one of the priorities of his mandate is represented by the fight against drug trafficking, in which sense he proposed to his Italian counterpart the intensification of actions aimed at preventing and combating this phenomenon.
Among the topics on the European agenda, the discussions focused in particular on asylum and migration issues, as well as Romania’s obtaining the lifting of land border controls, which will mark full integration into the Schengen area. The Romanian Minister of Internal Affairs appreciated Italy’s constant support for Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area and, at the end of the meeting, said: „We agreed with Minister Piantedosi to raise police cooperation to a higher level. Illegal migration and organized crime are serious challenges for all European states. I emphasized this in the joint government meeting, in the presence of the two Romanian and Italian heads of government, Ciolacu and Meloni. Organized crime is the driving force behind all the ills that plague society from drug, people and hazardous waste trafficking to illegal migration and economic corruption. It takes a network (of police cooperation) to fight a network (of organized crime). We are constantly working to strengthen and expand international cooperation. It is important that we intervene now to weaken and destroy organized crime from us underworld clans before it is structurally connected to the large international organized crime networks. The Romanian Police responds well to this directive and constantly launches anti-organized crime and anti-drug operations. This effort will increase. So is support for fighting organized crime. Discussions in Italy with our Italian partners focused on these priorities. Also, the Italian partners confirmed that they will continue to support Romania’s full accession to the Schengen area both through the voice of Minister Piantedosi and through the voice of the President of the Council of Ministers, Meloni.”
