Madam President, last December the Portuguese Attorney General closed the case on the purchase of submarines from a German consortium, after nine years of investigation based on strong suspicions of corruption, fraud and money laundering. The Portuguese prosecutors wrote that the investigation was blocked by the lack of cooperation from their German colleagues who, despite many rogatory letters and other requests, never sent to Portugal determining elements of proof, many of them seized in a joint search. This was different to what was done towards Greece in the same case involving submarines, although in Germany corruptors for Portugal and Greece were convicted.

Who are the corrupt Portuguese that Germany is covering up? This is intolerable in the context of European judicial cooperation and, Mr Avramopoulos, the Commission must intervene, otherwise the corrupt, the money launderers and other criminals will continue to use internal market freedom to retain impunity and keep the profits of crime.

And why is the Commission waiting to urge Member States to stop the sale of ‘golden visas', which, besides being immoral, are obviously the source of the importation of organised crime into the EU?

(The President cut off the speaker)