Judicial coop 'priority' - Orlando

(ANSA) - Rome, January 18 - Judicial cooperation on a European-wide level is "the priority", said Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando on Wednesday in a report to the Senate. He cited an "impressive gap" between the breadth of events linked to globalisation and "the tools we have available to contend with them". He said disagreements and old-fashioned stereotypes continue.
    "The risk is that we end up standing guard over an empty bin".
    Orlando said the growth of international civil suits, trans-border criminality, terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking, human smuggling, cyber crime and counterfeiting require an international response.
    "That's why we strongly supported in recent months the project of setting up a European prosecutor's office with a high level of independence and efficiency," Orlando said.
    "But thus far, the short-sighted concerns of individual countries that won't give up their ideas about national systems have prevailed. We've seen a progressive draining of means and ends to the project".