Giuseppe Castiglione, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. – (IT) Madam President, Mr Frattini, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank the rapporteur for the excellent work he has done and also Mr Frattini for the concrete progress made and for the information that he has given Parliament this evening.

This report is certainly an important sign of the political will to energetically combat the phenomenon of organised crime, which is unfortunately increasingly widespread. This form of crime has been able, despite our efforts, to develop a criminal network across national borders. Currently we have not been successful in providing police services equipped with the necessary tools to combat it.

We must therefore give a strong, authoritative and credible response, by strengthening all the cooperation instruments, as the Commissioner was saying, from awareness of the criminal phenomenon to the collection of statistical data, from the improvement and simplification of information exchange to the honing of investigation methods and the increased coordination of investigative and punitive operations.

I personally believe that the creation of more rigorous, Europe-wide collaboration and contact instruments, such as Europol will be able to be, is the key to enhancing trust between the Member States, creating the necessary synergies between national police authorities and launching a true European policy in this field. In recent years, associations of a criminal type have increasingly assumed the actual form of companies, and they find on the economic and financial markets a perfect place for laundering illicit proceeds; the damage that ensues for national economies and the Community economy can be easily imagined. We must also combat organised crime on the economic front and systematically attack financial resources, fixed and movable assets that have been legitimately acquired. For one thing, depriving crime of its resources means damaging the relations and links between them and terrorist organisations.

I also hope – and I note the Commissioner’s communication – that the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the two protocols on trafficking in persons and immigrant trafficking will be ratified swiftly and, above all, applied.

I am sure that, on the basis of this information, concrete proposals will soon arrive from the Commission, and I take note of this with great pleasure this evening. I wish Mr Frattini the best in his work; he has shown that he is not only aware of these issues but that he has implemented in practice some initiatives that he has outlined this evening.