More EU cooperation with Western Balkans in justice and home affairs issues

TIRANA, Nov. 17 – Ministers and officials from the European Union and the western Balkan countries held Friday a meeting on justice and home affairs in the Albanian capital. The European Union needs closer cooperation with the western Balkan nations if it is to better fight organized crimes such as trafficking in people and heroin, senior EU officials said. Ministers and officials from the EU and the western Balkans נAlbania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia נpledged during a two-day meeting to work toward developing an integrated border management system to strengthen the fight against organized crime and terrorism. Organized crime is endemic throughout the region and in most of the other Balkan states. Finnish Interior Minister Kari Rajamaki told a news conference the western Balkans needed to strengthen their own regional cooperation, but that organized crime in the EU and in the western Balkans was closely connected, so “EU countries also need to deepen cooperation with the Western Balkan countries.” Rajamaki, whose country holds the EU presidency, chaired the annual meeting on justice and home affairs between the EU and the countries נwhich all aspire to join the trade bloc. “The Balkan region is one of the key trafficking routes for heroin entering Europe from Asia,” an EU statement said. It added that measures taken by EU member states were not enough to combat human trafficking and more had to be done. “It is difficult to influence the demand and supply for human trafficking with legislative measures. Therefore I believe raising awareness is crucial in order to end human trafficking,” Finnish Justice Minister Leena Luhtanen said. All of the countries are negotiating pre-accession agreements with the EU. “This is a key region for the security of Europe,” EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said. Participants said that the cooperation would be increased with the SECI, the southeastern European initiative center based in Bucharest, Romania that coordinates the fight of this region in the fight against organized crime, human, weapon and drug trafficking. The EU senior officials said that the cooperation they would strengthen with the western Balkans could very likely follow that they had with the Baltic countries, which ad proved to be successful.