(ANSA) - ROME, OCTOBER 12 - The Italian model on the reuse of assets confiscated from the mafias is spreading in Europe: this is what emerges from a research by Libera, who presented the first mapping of good practices of public and social reuse of confiscated assets at European level. The research was illustrated this morning in Brussels at the final event of the "Good (s) Monitoring, Europe!" Project, co-financed by the European Commission. The project was an opportunity to monitor the knowledge of the different approaches that Member States have in the management of confiscated assets.
The majority of the 19 Member States have only experimented with the public reuse of confiscated assets, stressing that it is a first step to also improve the social (direct or indirect) reuse of confiscated assets in the future. The good practices of public and social reuse of confiscated assets belong to 7 Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Romania, France, the Netherlands and - of course - Italy). In total, there are 13 experiences of public and social reuse throughout the European Union, excluding the Italian ones: three in Spain, two in Romania, two in Bulgaria, four in Belgium, one in France and the Netherlands. Among the different reuse practices included in the mapping, the common feature is the aim of inclusion, cooperative promotion and social economy, youth engagement, services to people,urban regeneration and environmental sustainability.
"This mapping - comments Libera - has collected for the first time the different types of approach to the implementation of Article 10.3 of Directive 2014/42 / EU, deepening the legal framework chosen by the Member States to include the public and social reuse of goods confiscated in their legislation. Good practices show that the road is the right one but there is still a way to go ". For this reason, Libera together with the CHANCE network - Civil Hub Against organized crime in Europe asks the European Institutions to increase the AMO (Asset Management Offices) platform, as a fundamental tool to promote the exchange of knowledge and good practices on the management of seized / confiscated assets. ; provide for and make greater use of non-conviction based confiscation measures,including those of asset prevention, through a specific directive that includes the guarantee of a fair trial; create a fund dedicated to the reuse of confiscated assets through cohesion policies in the programming period 2021-2027, favoring the creation of a European strategy for the public and social destination of criminal assets. (HANDLE).
