The head of Italian diplomacy proposes a European “Patriot Act”

Like the American anti-terrorism law, the head of Italian diplomacy Luigi Di Maio on Tuesday proposed a European “Patriot Act”. “It’s about starting to think of something bigger and which would concern the whole EU,” he said in a Facebook post. “It’s about taking measures that could prevent tragedies like those in Nice”, where three people were killed five days ago, “and Vienna”, where four other people were killed on Monday evening, a- he estimated.

“The security of one state is the security of all others. I will discuss this in the coming days with my counterparts. Let us remain united against all forms of terrorism and fanaticism ”, added the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Modification of fundamental freedoms

The American Patriot Act, adopted in 2001 in the aftermath of the deadly attacks in the United States, modifies a certain number of fundamental freedoms and allows greater leeway to intelligence agencies in anti-terrorism investigations. “It is obvious” that in the face of the attacks of recent days “Europe and Italy can no longer continue to pronounce words of circumstance”, continued Luigi Di Maio.

“The problems have to be faced. The EU must strengthen its levels of security ”, he added, referring, among other things, to“ a strengthening of controls on mosques with the cooperation of Islamic communities and moderate Islam which has always condemned ”the attacks .

Reinforcement of Italian border controls

The Italian Interior Ministry is also considering strengthening border controls with the help of the army, a statement said. The members of the National Committee for Security and Public Order (CASA) “carried out a deep analysis of the subjects concerning the activity of the preventive police, the updating of controls on sensitive targets, the intensification of controls at border crossings with the use of soldiers, ”the statement said.

The CASA also examined “the technical aspects of an operational plan” which still remains to be negotiated between the Italian and Tunisian governments “to intensify cooperation at sea, the objective of which is the fight” against migrant smugglers, the statement added. . The alleged perpetrator of the Nice attack is a young Tunisian who arrived as a migrant in Italy at the end of September from where he reached France shortly before committing his attack.