SEECP justice and interior ministers meet in Bulgaria

SOFIA, April 30 – Justice and interior ministers of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) met in Bulgaria to focus on the challenges to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, extradition and European arrest warrants.
The topic of the meeting was, “Challenges before Police and Judicial Cooperation on Criminal Case. Extradition and European Arrest Warrant”.
The talks were divided in two panels: “Challenges before Police Cooperation in Southeast Europe. Harmonization of the National Legislations with the Legal Instruments of the Council of Europe and the European Union. Building up the Administrative Capacity”; and “Improving Judicial Cooperation in the Execution of Extradition Request and the European Arrest Warrant”.
Delegations of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU and the Council of Europe, as well as representatives of Interpol, Eurojust, Europol, the Council for Regional Cooperation, and UNMIK also attended the forum. The forum was attended by the justice ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia and Montenegro as well as the ministers of interior of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Croatia. Other SEECP member states – Greece, Romania and Turkey were represented by deputy ministers.
The SEECP was launched in 1996 on Bulgaria’s initiative to strengthen regional stability, economic relations, and judicial cooperation. It is a purely regional initiative and serves to complement the Stability Pact, the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, and the Stabilization and Association Process that have been initiated by outside factors. (Tirana Times Staff)