MEP Victor Negrescu (S&D) on Sunday asked the European institutions, in his capacity as Vice-President of the European Parliament responsible for transparency and the fight against corruption, for support after the robbery at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, where valuable pieces from Romania’s Dacian treasure were stolen, as he revealed in a post on his Facebook page.

In his request, the Romanian MEP highlighted the European dimension of this incident „given the historical and cultural significance of the stolen artifacts as well as its cross-border nature,” as well as „the need to protect the European cultural heritage.”

Victor Negrescu called on the European Union „to quickly implement the existing mechanisms in the case of such incidents targeting cultural heritage and to act with determination using the specific institutions existing at the European level”.

Specifically, the Romanian MEP addressed a written request to the Commission regarding „what specific measures the European Commission is considering to improve collaboration between Member States, Europol and Eurojust in the case of the robbery in the Netherlands and to prevent such situations in the future.”

Victor Negrescu also requested to be informed about „the steps that the European institutions will take, following this incident, to ensure an efficient implementation of the EU Action Plan against trafficking in cultural goods, adopted in 2022,” on which the Romanian MEP states that he worked together with his social democrat colleagues during his previous term as vice-chair of the Committee on Culture and Education in the European Parliament.

AGERPRES