An EU platform for the fight against organized crime will be established in Chisinau
Update: 11/07/2022 14:00
Issued by: 11/07/2022, 13:19
Prague – A European Union platform will be established in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau, which brings together security experts from European Union countries to fight international organized crime. Its goal is to protect the internal security of Moldova. Today, at an informal meeting of the EU Ministry of the Interior, the document on the creation of the platform was signed by the Moldovan Ministry of the Interior, Ana Ravencová, and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson. The first platforms are being produced today, the session will deal with the illegal arms trade.
Two states have so far sent their experts to Moldova, and thanks to the creation of the platform, four more have now joined them, Johansson said. Today’s meeting will be attended by representatives of Spain, Romania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Germany and France. According to the European Commissioner, a total of 12 states want to join the platform.
“With the help of this new platform, we will solve the problems of illegal arms trade, illegal migration, human trafficking and we will prevent terrorism, violent extremism, cybercrime and drug trafficking,” the European Commissioner described.
According to Ravencová, this is a small step for security specialists, but a big step for the peace and security of the whole of Europe. Moldova will contribute by sharing its information, which was obtained during the duration of the war in Ukraine. The minister reminded that Moldova does not currently have access to modern European tools for fighting organized crime, nor can it benefit from judicial cooperation.
Moldova is a former Soviet republic with about 2.6 million inhabitants and is one of the poorest countries in Europe. In June, EU leaders granted the country, which, as a neighbor of Ukraine, is among the most affected by the wave of refugees, candidate status. There are fears that Moscow wants to gain land access to Transnistria, a separatist region in Moldova, which Russia has practically occupied since the 1990s, by taking control of the entire southern Ukraine.
EU interior ministers and other representatives of EU institutions are dealing with potential dangers arising from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, such as trafficking in people or weapons, at today’s informal meeting in Prague. Ministers will also open a debate on the fight against sexual abuse in the online space. The Czechia would like to bring a concrete solution to the end of its presidency.
The first ministerial meeting under the Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union will continue on Tuesday with the meeting of justice ministers.
EU interior ministers will discuss in particular the effects of the Ukrainian crisis
The topics of the informal meeting of the EU Ministry of the Interior will mainly be the effects of the Ukrainian crisis and problems related to migration. Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) told journalists today when he arrived at the meeting in the Prague Congress Center. With his counterparts from the countries of the European Union, Moldova and Ukraine, he wants to address, for example, a unified registration system for arrivals from Ukraine.
“We want all countries to really use all data on arrivals in one registration system,” said the Austrian. According to him, some countries are already using the registration system, but some are not yet. According to him, since the refugees are mainly women and children, the wave of refugees does not yet have significant security implications. But the ministers will talk about potential dangers, such as human and arms trafficking.
According to European Commissioner for Affairs Ylva Johansson, Europe has experienced similar problems after the war in the former Yugoslavia, according to her, Europe is still dealing with weapons supplied from these countries to organized criminal groups in the EU.
Johansson also said that the situation surrounding Ukrainian refugees is now stable. According to her, the number of refugees traveling between Ukraine and the European Union is at pre-war and pre-Covid numbers, and roughly the same number of people are now entering the EU as are leaving the EU. According to her, many Ukrainians will decide before the start of the school year if they want to stay in the EU.
Polish Deputy Minister of the Interior Bartosz Grodecki said that in the area of migration, border protection and determining its exact rules are especially important for Poland. According to him, his country is struggling with the hybrid threats it faces due to the situation in Ukraine and the crisis on the border with Belarus. According to Swiss Ministry Karin Kellerová-Sutterová, it is necessary to start thinking about the organizations and the legal framework for the possible return of Ukrainian refugees back to their homeland.
“We are very happy and we are very pleased that two ministers who do not belong to the EU, namely the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior and the Moldovan Ministry, have accepted the invitation to directly participate in our informal meeting of ministers in Prague today,” said the Austrian. Today, European officials want to launch the EU Platform on Internal Security and Border Protection in Moldova. According to the Austrian, this platform will help the country to connect with European institutions such as Europol or Frontex. The Moldavian Ministry of the Interior, Ana Ravencová, did not want to reveal the shape of the platform, presenting it at a briefing at 11:45.
Ministers will also open a debate on the fight against sexual abuse in the online space. The Czechia would like to bring a concrete solution to the end of its presidency. The first ministerial meeting under the Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union will continue on Tuesday with the meeting of the ministers of justice, who will deal, among other things, with the collection and preservation of evidence for the purposes of prosecuting Russian crimes in Ukraine.
The Czechia took over the presidency of the Council of the EU from France on July 1, and will be at the head of the community for half a year. In Prague, people from the ministries of the countries of the European Union will gradually meet, after the meeting of the ministers of the interior and justice, next week there will be a meeting of the ministers of the environment and the ministers for European affairs.