Eutalia supports the Carabinieri and CITCO (Centro Inteligencia contra el Terrorismo y el Crimen Organizado) in the multi-beneficiary action grant agreement EMPACT 2022 Operational Action Plan N.EVC/01/2022 EMPACT (POL.13405) funded by Europol.
EU policy cycle EMPACT – EMPACT | Europol (europa.eu) stands for European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats. It introduces an integrated approach to EU internal security, encompassing measures ranging from external border controls, police, customs and judicial cooperation, information management, innovation, training, prevention and the external dimension of internal security, as well as public-private partnerships, where appropriate.
EMPACT follows a four-year cycle, pursues EU-defined priorities in the fight against serious and organised crime and is divided into four phases; the third phase provides for the development, implementation and monitoring of annual Operational Action Plans (OAPs).
The Grant Agreement, signed in March 2022, following the call for proposals launched by Erupol in November 2021, concerns the Operational Action Plan for the first year of the EMPACT cycle 2022-2025, and in this case, the Project has the fight against environmental crimes as a priority.
The project thus provides for the development and implementation of a series of activities (OAPs) involving several Member States, as well as third countries and the private sector, in the fight against organised crime. For this reason, the project has several objectives, such as ensuring the exchange of good practices and providing support for the implementation of operational activities within the sector, through the sharing of experiences and cases among EU Member States participating in operations or, for example, through the provision and use of specialised manuals. The various activities also include strengthening operational support and cross-border cooperation between Member States and third countries.
All activities have as their main objective the fight against and combating environmental crime. The main activities on which the project is based are in fact the protection of wildlife, the fight against environmental crime and land degradation, the conservation of biodiversity, and the fight against illegal dumping and the illegal disposal of toxic substances and liquids.
