The European Union acknowledges the work of EL PAcCTO during the pandemic

The last Steering Committee meeting of EL PAcCTO, the programme financed by the European Union, ended on a very positive note. Representatives of the European Commission Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) acknowledged the work of the project “with the formulation of a contingency plan, results such as the COVID Channel and the great visibility of webinars such as the presentation of the Latin America Internal Security Committee CLASI“, as pointed out by Ramón Espinosa, representative of DEVCO and one of the participants at the meeting.

In addition to Espinosa, the Committee meeting was attended by Vania Bonalberti (DEVCO), Iris Ljubicic, from the European External Action Service(EEAS), David Ramos, from the Council of the European Union and representatives from Europol, the ministries of Justice and the Interior of the member states that make up EL PAcCTO (Spain, France, Italy and Portugal), and from the agencies implementing the programme (FIIAPP, Expertise France, IILA and Camões), as well as representatives of the projects linked to EL PAcCTO such as  EL PAcCTO: Support to AMERIPOL.

During the meeting, the EL PAcCTO team took stock of the activities carried out in the first half of the year and presented the objectives for the coming months. EL PAcCTO has developed three possible scenarios (minimum, intermediate and broad) that will depend on the evolution of the pandemic. Accordingly, the plan is to continue to conduct activities virtually and combine them with face-to-face workshops and seminars (in Europe or Latin America), health crisis permitting.

Among the success stories that were presented at the Steering Committee meeting, the launching of the COVID Channel, an immediate response to the crisis and an exchange space for the security forces, representatives of justice and prison systems in Latin America and the European Union.

The exchange of information between Europe and Latin America has boosted coordination and cooperation between the two regions to face the challenges posed by crime in the context of the health crisis.

Projects linked to EL PAcCTO: EL PAcCTO: Support to AMERIPOL and INTERPOL: Support to EL PAcCTO also presented their results, highlighting the rapid adaptation to the health crisis and the quality of virtual activities that have been maintained to strengthen the fight against crime during the pandemic.