The Romanian Police play an important role in combating cybercrime: 20% of the cyber defense experts within Europol are Romanian police officers, according to Rob Wainwright, the director of the institution.

Wainwright met on April 23, in Bucharest, Romania’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Gabriel Oprea.

“The expertise that Romanian specialists bring in their daily fight against this threat is extraordinary,” said the Europol director, according to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The two officials also discussed ways to strengthen the cooperation in combating cybercrime, as this type of threat is one of the biggest when it comes to European Union’s security, Wainwright added.

“We must modernize police forces’ capabilities. We also need to strengthen cooperation with the private sector and do the necessary legislative changes to help to help law enforcement authorities to provide protection and security to citizens.”

According to Romanian minister Oprea, Romania is sixth in terms of the number of data exchanges made within the Europol information system.

Romania is one of the 12 European states that have expanded the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) to the central operative structures, interconnecting national units engaged in the fight against serious organized crime, the minister added.

Besides fighting cybercrime, Romania is also responsible for stopping the flow of illegal migrants at the eastern border of the European Union. According to Oprea, Romania has the most modern integrated border security system.

For this reasons, the Romanian official believes that Romania’s entry into the Schengen area would benefit the European Union’s security.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com