"Fighting criminal gangs at the European level"

Annemie Turtelboom announced her intention to address the problem in the European Parliament yesterday.

The Belgian priorities for the Belgian European presidency were announced yesterday. Annemie Turtelboom said that she is concerned by the growing use of heavy weapons by criminals. She wants a joint European effort to tackle the problem, e.g. by coordinating legislation in the different European countries.

The Belgian Interior Minister also intends to fight travelling criminal gangs. She will put the issue on the European agenda to trigger a coordinated European effort.

Annemie Turtelboom gave the example of criminal groups operating alongside motorways. She wants to push for a better exchange of police information between European member states to fight the gangs.