The intensive cooperation of the Italian judicial authorities with other EU Member States via Eurojust was evaluated, yesterday and today, during a dedicated seminar in Bari. The seminar, which also celebrated Eurojust’s 20th anniversary, was organised by the Bari seat of the High School of Judiciary and the Italian National Desk at the Agency. It aimed to enhance future ways of judicial cross-border cooperation in an increasingly digital era, focusing on particular crime areas such as cybercrime and terrorism.
Prominent speakers at the seminar included Mr Filippo Spiezia, National Member for Italy at Eurojust, and Mr Antonio Cluny, National Member for Portugal. Academia was represented by Professor Ms Anne Weyembergh of the Free University of Brussels (ULB). Other prominent participants included National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor Mr Giovanni Melillo, and Head of Cabinet at the Italian Ministry for Justice Mr Raffaele Piccirillo.
Bari was chosen as the venue for the only Italian celebration of the 20th anniversary of Eurojust for its unique location in Italy, as a gateway to the Western Balkans. In recent years, Eurojust has stepped up cooperation with the Western Balkans, and Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia have a Liaison Prosecutor at Eurojust. In particular with regards to Albania, Eurojust has enabled operational cooperation with the Italian authorities, leading to the dismantling of a large-scale drug trafficking network.
The seminar focused in particular on the introduction of the Judicial Counter-Terrorism Register at Eurojust in 2019 and this year’s amendment of the Eurojust Regulation, in view of the war in Ukraine. This enables the Agency to collect, preserve and share evidence. Also, the central role of Eurojust in rolling out the European Commission initiative to digitalise the judiciary across the EU was explained.
Assistants to the Italian National Desk explained the cooperation mechanisms via Eurojust and ways to open requests for judicial support to other Member States and third countries with Liaison Prosecutors at the Agency. Special attention was given to a series of dedicated factsheets which were prepared for the Italian authorities, to highlight the main areas of judicial cooperation enabled by Eurojust.
The cooperation between judicial authorities with counterparts in other EU Member States via Eurojust has increased strongly. The number of cases with Italian involvement at the Agency rose by nearly 80% last year compared to 2017, to just over 4 800.
Commenting on the outcomes of the seminar, National Member for Italy at Eurojust, Mr Filippo Spiezia said: Looking back at the last twenty years, since the start of Eurojust we have achieved so much to really have an effective and practical cross-border cooperation of the judiciary, tackling organised crime. This seminar has been extremely useful, not only to evaluate this, but also to be inspired by our Italian fellow prosecutors and get an impetus for the further development of judicial cooperation. I want to thank the High School of Judiciary very much for organising this seminar to honour cross-border judicial cooperation.
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union