Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani and Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi presented today at the Italian Foreign Ministry the “Punto Italia”: a travelling consular post set up on a mobile office of the Italian National Police, which will travel around Germany to assist the many Italian supporters following the Italian national football team.
“We wanted to launch this unprecedented collaboration between the Italian Foreign Ministry and National Police in order to provide even quicker and more efficient consular assistance to all the Italian citizens who will be following the Italian national team at the European Football Championships,” commented Tajani, pointing out that the goal was to better respond to the needs of Italian nationals abroad, especially in cases of emergency, and to improve consular services.
“‘This initiative will allow us to be closer to our fellow citizens during the European Football Championship. This activity is supported by an important collaboration between the Italian National Police and the German authorities. Italian agents and officials, who are experts on football supporters’ activity, will be in Germany where they will cooperate with German police forces to guarantee the best security conditions during the sports events,” said Minister Piantedosi.
The ceremony was also attended by Italy’s Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, and Head of the Secretariat of the Department of Public Security of the Ministry of the Interior, Prefect Sergio Bracco. The “Mobile Consulate” will be stationed in places where greatest influx of Italian fans is expected, such as stations or stadiums. The cities where the Italian national football team will play are Dortmund (15 June Italy-Albania), Gelsenkirchen (20 June Italy-Spain) and Leipzig (24 June Italy-Croatia). Further matches will depend on the outcome of the qualifiers.
In the mobile office of the Italian National Police, which will sport the livery of the force, Italian National Police officers will work together with Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel on duty at the Consular Offices in Germany responsible for the area. They will offer a range of assistance services, namely contact with family members in Italy in case of need; issuance of emergency travel documents; assistance and/or linguistic intermediation with local law enforcement agencies or in case of health needs; legal assistance.
