An opportunity for Europe. The Anti-Mafia Manifesto of Libera and Chance Network to the EU Parliament

Brussels – An opportunity for Europe. To fight effectively against the mafia, to make sterile the ground on which organized crime organizations proliferate throughout the territory of the European Union. “We call for a 360-degree focus to give healthy prominence to a responsible and healthy society,” is how Libera’s president, Luigi Ciotti, presented today (Nov. 7) the new Manifesto A Chance for Europe promoted by the Chance network of associations, of which Libera itself is the leader. At the European Parliament, in the heart of that Union in which “there is no country that does not have the problem of the mafia, call it what you want, but it is there,” Ciotti forcefully reiterated.

Five priorities for 12 proposals addressing the “chronic problems in our House Europe,” is the starting point of the Manifesto ahead of the June 2024 EU Parliament elections. “While it is true that organized crime finds its most fertile ground in social injustice and inequality,” civil society rallied around the Chance and Libera network calls for the “creation of a more equitable society as a powerful tool” to eliminate mafia and corruption across the continent. Because the international nature of organized crime “is a fact.” According to the report
of Europol’s 2021 Serious and Organized Crime Threat Assessment, 70 percent of criminal groups operating in the EU are active in more than three EU countries and 65 percent are composed of members of more than one nationality. The urgency is to “build networks” in the face of a global problem: “We can do it together, we have been talking about the mafia for 150 years,” was the exhortation of Libera’s founder and president.

Also speaking at the presentation of the Manifesto-promoted by the Democratic Party delegation-was Roberta Metsola, who had just returned from her tour in Southern Italy. “Two days ago I was in Palermo to pay tribute to the memory of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino,” Metsola began, also referring to Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Slovakian Ján Kuciak to remind us that “mafia and corruption kill and are the greatest enemies of our common values.” The fight against organized crime “has no borders, and the only way to destroy criminal networks is to cultivate a strong sense of personal and civic responsibility and a common European front,” which is precisely whyA Chance for Europe is “another tangible example of your tireless work” also in the run-up to the 2024 European elections.

What the Chance Network’s Manifesto against the Mafia provides

The first priority of the Manifesto A Chance for Europe starts from the assumption that organized crime is a European problem and is set on two demands. First, that Eurocamera and other EU and national institutions recognize that the mafia “originates within its borders and has its roots in the social inequalities and gray areas that exist in our countries.” And then “the establishment of a permanent civil society forum on organized crime,” between the Commission, Parliament and European civil society. The second point is on recovering common property from organized crime with “binding measures” for the social reuse of confiscated property in the new proposal for a directive on asset recovery and confiscation, the “review of mechanisms for participation in inter-institutional meetings,” and the establishment of a “special fund to support civil society projects in confiscated property.”

On the front of corruption, public administration and civil society, the requests to the EU Commission are to “formally recognize” the role of civil society organizations in monitoring EU spending and to “explicitly support strong provisions for meaningful access” to beneficial ownership registers, according to the MEPs’ proposal. Instead, to the 27 member countries to “allow or strengthen involvement” in the co-programming of interventions and initiatives established under recovery and resilience plans.

For the protection, justice and reparation for victims of organized crime and human trafficking and their families the exhortation to EU and national institutions is to establish a “permanent table of confrontation” and an Ombudsman at the European level “to ensure full and complete implementation” of EU legislation. Finally, the priority of protection of the environment and public health from ecomafias with a request to the co-legislators of Parliament and Council and one to the Twenty-Seven: the former should “swiftly approve” the proposed new directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law, the latter should “make the necessary adjustments” for the “swift” ratification of the directive itself.