Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

To strengthen law enforcement co-operation is one of the main goals, and an important duty of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Success in fighting trans-national organized crime and maintaining public order primarily depends on a legal system which functions also between countries and which allows police and justice authorities to exchange data, as well as on a framework allowing operative networking and common education.

It is generally recognized, that criminal persons, organized crime, politically motivated criminals, terrorists, extremist militant groups and hooligans are able to act across borders, using existing support networks and international structures. Precisely for that reason the European Union has established Europol and, within the Union, the Schengen agreement was developed.

Elsewhere, numerous bilateral, trilateral, quadrilateral etc. police cooperation agreements and MoU’s have been concluded allowing the police and justice systems to coordinate their activities to reduce cross-border crime. As examples I would like to mention the Police Cooperation Treaty between Austria and Germany, both Schengen countries, and the Police Cooperation Treaty between Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein; as you know Switzerland and Liechtenstein are not (yet) Schengen Countries.

It clearly is in the interest of Europe to support the countries of South Eastern Europe to develop their own Police Co-operation Convention. Such a convention would be an important step to increase the effectiveness of the fight against trans-border organised crime in SEE and may also contribute towards future integration into the EU. But, of course, the primary goals of this convention should be to enhance the cooperation of the Police in South Eastern Europe and to eliminate legal obstacles for effective law enforcement cooperation across South Eastern European borders.

The envisaged convention should create a comprehensive legal basis for several types of functional cooperation among the national and border police organisations, such as exchange of data, observation of offenders, networking during specific police investigations, creating joint investigation groups, to mention a few. For all such types of cross-border cooperation a legal basis is indispensable, as the examples of Interpol and Europol illustrate. In South Eastern Europe such a comprehensive legal instrument does not yet exist.

We should not underestimate the complex nature of the specific questions, which are at stake in developing such a convention. But fortunately, also in this case, we do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are some excellent models available, and I have already mentioned a few. Let us learn from experience gained elsewhere in Europe without, however, making the mistake to disregard the specific nature and needs of the South Eastern European countries, and without overlooking the fact that also within the SEE region there are some significant differences which need to be taken into account.

This is the challenge: to find solutions to overcome these differences without disregarding them and to work towards common European solutions. In saying that, I also recommend to involve the experts from the European Commission in the negotiations ahead.

As the Special Coordinator for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe I would also hope and expect that this initiative to develop an SEE Convention for Police Cooperation, will make an important contribution to the key objective of the Stability Pact, which is to strengthen stability and security in the entire region. Within the Stability Pact’s Working Table III we have three initiatives aiming at fighting organised crime and corruption: the SPOC initiative, which is specifically addressing legal aspects of fighting organised crime and which is contributing to awareness raising and policy advocacy; secondly, there is the initiative on fighting corruption, SPAI, and thirdly the Police Forum with its Organized Crime Training Network project, which offers specialised trainings for specialized police officers and develops networks amongst them.

But the greatest impact of this Convention will be on the regional operations launched by the SECI Regional Centre. Cooperation between police officers of all the SECI member countries will be greatly facilitated by the envisaged convention.

As Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact I would like to summarize by saying that the region needs a SEE Police Cooperation Convention and I support it. Austria through this initiative aspires to make a huge contribution to the security in South Eastern Europe. Therefore, I would like to thank the Austrian Federal Minister of Interior for this initiative.

Dear participants representing your countries from South Eastern Europe, I whish you a lot of success and courage during the negotiations ahead of you and I will follow your progress with great interest and expectations.

Thank you.