Jean-Claude Marin: Prosecutors in Romania, France cooperate to combat trafficking in cultural goods

Romanian and French prosecutors have had joint actions to combat trafficking in cultural goods, given that the patrimony of the two states "is plundered by transnational criminal rings," said Prosecutor General of the General Prosecutor's Office with the French Court of Cassation, Jean-Claude Marin, in an interview for AGERPRES. 

J-C Marin has had in 2017 several professional meetings with Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar. Now, in Bucharest, the French guest has attended a roundtable meeting to discuss the functioning of the prosecution offices in Romania and France, the guarantees regarding the appointment of magistrates, the guarantees in terms of their independence and the CSM, which is the main protector of the independence of the judiciary, he said. 

"We have remarked from these discussions that there are similarities between our systems, that we share a common legal culture and that we have common concerns about the functioning of the rule of law. We have discussed about the training of prosecutors in the investigation of organized crime, which is part of the daily work of French and Romanian magistrates." 

Among the successes of this Romanian-French cooperation, J-C Marin recalls: We have done together with the General Prosecutor's Office common actions in the field of trafficking in cultural goods. The patrimony of our countries is plundered by transnational criminal rings, so there is a need for fluid, bilateral cooperation to combat them and cooperate in this area with the Romanian General Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor General Lazar, but also with other countries. 

Another common topic we cooperate in is human trafficking and the two countries have reached a genuine judicial pact to prevent exploitation of minors through begging on major boulevards in our cities, the French official added. 

"There are also other issues that we cannot deal with separately. That is why we need a European structure to fight organized crime and when I speak about it, I am thinking about what is known as the European Prosecutor's Office, provided for by a regulation published in 2017. With regard to the European Prosecutor's Office, I would like to say that this is a new chance, an additional factor of homogenization of justice in the member countries. And the fundamental condition of the treaty regarding the European Prosecutor's Office is that it must be completely independent from the European executive and the same standard of absolute independence will have to be respected by all European prosecutors who will second prosecutors to the European Prosecutor's Office," said the French dignitary.