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Italy condemns ‘cowardly’ knife attack in French city of Nice

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte condemned the attack that left three dead at a church in the southern French city of Nice on Thursday morning.

Published: 29 October 2020 11:54 CET
Italy condemns 'cowardly' knife attack in French city of Nice
French police and firefighters secure the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice following the attack on Thursday morning. Photo: AFP
“The cowardly attack… will not shake the common front defending the values of freedom and peace,” Conte posted on Twitter.
 
“Our convictions are stronger than fanaticism, hatred and terror.”
 
 
Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio also condemned the attack and voiced support for France.
 
“Italy expresses profound condolences for the barbarous Nice attack,” Di Maio tweeted. “We are close to the French people and to the pain of the families of the victims.”
 
“Italy repudiates all forms of extremism and remains at France's side in the fight against terrorism and all violent radicalism”.
 

French terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation after the attack at a church in the southern French city of Nice left at least three dead and several people injured.

 
 
The attack took place at the Notre-Dame church in the southern city of Nice around 9am on Thursday morning.
 
Local police detained the suspected attacker quickly after the event, Mayor Christian Estrosi said.
 
French terror prosecutors later confirmed that a terror probe had been opened following the knife attack.

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CRIME

Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

Italy is conducting more investigations into alleged fraud of funds from the EU post-Covid fund and has higher estimated losses than any other country, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said.

Published: 8 April 2024 17:05 CEST
Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

The EPPO reportedly placed Italy under special surveillance measures following findings that 179 out of a total of 206 investigations into alleged fraud of funds through the NextGenerationEU programme were in Italy, news agency Ansa reported.

Overall, Italy also had the highest amount of estimated damage to the EU budget related to active investigations into alleged fraud and financial wrongdoing of all types, the EPPO said in its annual report published on Friday.

The findings were published after a major international police investigation into fraud of EU recovery funds on Thursday, in which police seized 600 million euros’ worth of assets, including luxury villas and supercars, in northern Italy.

The European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, established to help countries bounce back from the economic blow dealt by the Covid pandemic, is worth more than 800 billion euros, financed in large part through common EU borrowing.

READ ALSO: ‘It would be a disaster’: Is Italy at risk of losing EU recovery funds?

Italy has been the largest beneficiary, awarded 194.4 billion euros through a combination of grants and loans – but there have long been warnings from law enforcement that Covid recovery funding would be targeted by organised crime groups.

2023 was reportedly the first year in which EU financial bodies had conducted audits into the use of funds under the NextGenerationEU program, of which the Recovery Fund is part.

The EPPO said that there were a total of 618 active investigations into alleged fraud cases in Italy at the end of 2023, worth 7.38 billion euros, including 5.22 billion euros from VAT fraud alone.

At the end of 2023, the EPPO had a total of 1,927 investigations open, with an overall estimated damage to the EU budget of 19.2 billion euros.

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