Conference of Ministers of Justice

Cross-border cooperation and mutual assistance

strengthening collaboration to counter transnational crime

19 September 2025, Valletta (Malta)

Speech by Theodoros Rousopoulos

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

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Ministers, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

Two centuries ago, almost to the day, the great powers of Europe gathered in Aix la Chapelle (Aachen today). Among them was a remarkable Greek statesman — Ioannis Kapodistrias, then Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire, who would later become the first Governor of an independent Greece.

At that Congress, Kapodistrias called for the creation of an international mechanism to fight crime — especially the trafficking of human beings, the slave trade that was one of the great evils of his time.

So you see, dear colleagues, what we are discussing today is not new.

The struggle against crime and the need for international cooperation are part of the very fabric of political life — of our common European history.

This is why, since 1959, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters has been one of Europe’s great legal bridges. Over the decades, we have reinforced it: in 1978 with the First Additional Protocol, in 2001 with the Second — and today, here in Valletta, with the Third Additional Protocol.

This Protocol does more than modernise procedures. It enables secure electronic exchange of evidence, hearings by videoconference, and timely interception of communications — tools that make our cooperation faster and smarter than the criminal networks we face.

Last year alone, more than 15,000 requests for mutual assistance were processed. Each one is a story of justice crossing a border, of victims whose rights were defended.

The proposal of Kapodistrias, to which I referred earlier, was sadly not accepted immediately — but 67 years later it bore fruit and contributed significantly to the fight against international crime.

Today, here in Malta, we are moving faster, proving that together we can make justice stronger than crime, and cooperation stronger than criminal networks.

And let me add: The Parliamentary Assembly, which I have the honour to lead, welcomed this Protocol in its opinion last May — because every day lost to bureaucracy is a day gained by organized crime.

We stand firmly alongside the intergovernmental sector, giving democratic legitimacy, political impetus, and visibility to this essential work — because every day lost to bureaucracy is a day gained by organised crime.

Crime knows no borders.

And neither must justice.

Thank you.