A high-level conference in Bled (Slovenia) 18-19 November adopted an Action Plan to combat the illicit trafficking and re-registering of stolen vehicles and bringing Southeast European countries up to the latest technology for tracking stolen cars.  Respective training programs and technical improvements in needed equipment are done in close cooperation with Interpol and Europol.  Activities will be conducted within the framework of the Stability Pact Police Forum Initiative.  The new set of instruments, such as access to consolidated databases, exchange of best practices, cross-border police co-operation and internationally orchestrated legislative and data exchange improvements will address the stolen cars problem.

According to Europol’s statistics from 2002 a total of 1.149.114 vehicles were stolen in Western Europe and 388.779 were not recovered. The net profit accumulated by organised criminal groups concerning trafficking in stolen vehicles is estimated to more than 5.8 billion Euros.  

The issue is prevalent throughout South Eastern Europe (SEE), although it has different levels of urgency and priority from one country to the other.   It is therefore vital, that the technical working groups, which were established by the Bled conference, tailor the measures individually for each country.  The main beneficiaries of the training and equipment improvements will be police forces and registration agencies.  The process will have to be accompanied by necessary legislative changes, especially in the domain of legal protection for property issues and by creating the legal basis for recovering stolen vehicles.   

The conference was jointly hosted by Slovenian Minister of the Interior, Rado Bohinc, the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Stability Pact Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek, who underlined “Removing the countries of SEE as a save haven or transit corridor for stolen cars is tantamount to removing another serious stain from the region’s image.  This can have positive effects far beyond the involved police work, which in itself is a positive development and another element of European normality arriving in SEE.’  Participating countries, whose Governments committed themselves through the adoption of the Action Plan are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro.