Mazzella: ‘We need a single customs task force at European Union level’

“We need a European Customs Agency which, acting as a single entity, is capable of concluding agreements that benefit everyone” – specifically with those countries that have been subjected in recent months to the attacks that triggered the Hormuz crisis. These are the words of Minister Plenipotentiary Andrea Mazzella, Director of the International Relations Office at the Customs and Monopolies Agency, who spoke this morning at the event ‘The Hormuz Crisis and the New Eurasian Trade Routes. Challenges and Opportunities for Customs Policies’, organised by Adm.

The speech by Mazzella, delivered as part of the panel ‘Trade, connectivity and economic integration in the Eurasian region’, takes its cue from this idea: there is a diplomatic dimension to the world of customs that is crucial. By their very nature, customs authorities are structures designed for control, verification and security; today, however, these institutions are being called upon to become bridges for dialogue and openness, capable of performing a role of control and supervision, particularly in crisis situations.

“Whilst at present this monitoring work is carried out individually by the customs authorities of various countries such as Italia, France or Germany,” explains Mazzella, “there is a need to delegate this task to a single, EU-wide body.”

Further contributions were made by Suleiman bin Masoud Al Ghafri, Executive Director of the Customs Union Authority of the Gulf Cooperation Council; Ruth Kennedy, Revenue Commissioner and Director-General of Customs at the Office of the Revenue Commissioner in Ireland, and the Directors-General of Customs for Turkey, Tunisia and Greece, Mustafa Gumus, Mohamed Hedi Safer and Dimiotrios Buorikos.