Ruotolo (PD/S&D): “Establish an anti-mafia committee in the European Parliament”

From the correspondent in Strasbourg – Institute an anti-mafia commission in the European Parliament, in the wake of the example of the Italian Parliament: The request is from the Democratic Party, and specifically Sandro Ruotolo, who takes the initiative to propose a reorganisation of the EU Parliament by speaking in the Chamber in Strasbourg. The Pd/S&D member has no doubts: “The time has come for the European Parliament to establish a special Commission against organised crime, capable of dealing with the rapid evolution of criminal methods.”

According to Ruotolo, to fight organised crime in Europe, “we need to equip ourselves with the right tools,” which are not there at the moment. He reminds those in the Chamber that mafias have a long history in Italy and “have become intertwined with part of the political, economic and financial power.” Still, the problem is not and cannot be considered only as a national issue of only one EU member state. “The question we must ask ourselves is about Europe: are we doing enough to fight organised crime? I have the feeling that we are lagging behind them.”

He quotes Giovanni Falcone, who also the European Parliament got to welcome and listen to. It was 1986, and a European Parliament of a then different and smaller Europe (still called the EEC and had only 12 member states) was beginning to look more broadly at that organised crime and its dynamics that the magistrate was trying to counter. “Giovanni Falcone taught us that following the money is the key to looking for the Mafia,” Ruotolo continued. And the EU, of money, makes a lot of it available—hundreds of billions, which are needed and which are also attractive. The MEP denounces, particularly, the phenomena of money laundering and corruption and “companies and criminal groups” that benefit from the EU’s wide meshes. “We cannot afford to fall behind,” Ruotolo insists. “The security of citizens and the economic resilience of the Union depend on this common commitment.”