Our Croatian hosts, Ministers Ana Lovirn and Ivica Kirin have requested us to focus on two most important subjects: judiciary reforms and fighting corruption. Addressing these issues more effectively indeed is indispensable for moving the countries of SEE into the EU. Judiciary reform and anti-corruption are also part of the fight against international organised crime, a major problem with global dimensions. To tackle these problems successfully, international cooperation, cooperation between European partners, and also regional cooperation between you Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs in South Eastern Europe is required. How to make our common fight against these problems as successful as possible?

The Stability Pact has been a partner to the countries of South Eastern Europe since 1999. Together we have developed a series of regional initiatives to promote legal and judiciary reforms, to fight organised crime and corruption. We have built regional networks and support mechanisms, and we have connected these to international partners, in Europe and beyond. These networks and support mechanisms in fact are the strategic tools which the countries of SEE need to translate the policy objectives in ministerial declarations into effective, regional cooperative actions.

The Stability Pact is in the process of being transformed into the Regional Cooperation Council, to be in place already next Spring. And this RCC will also report to you, the SEECP Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs. So once again: the Stability Pact regional networks and mechanisms will be available to you as your operational/strategic tools. Therefore, it is up to you to ensure that these tools are being used as effectively as possible.

Let me now highlight some of these mechanisms more specifically:

1. Concerning the fight against cross-border organised crime, I am glad to say,   bilateral cooperation between police forces in SEE is growing rapidly. In addition, the SECI Centre in Bucharest provides a tool for regional police cooperation, focusing on capacity building and training, on joint regional operations, and for serving as a mechanism facilitating bilateral cooperation in specific cases. With assistance of the EU and EUROPOL the Centre is now being further developed to become a strong international law enforcement partner. From its side, the Stability Pact has made available since last year the legal expertise of the staff at its Anti- Organised Crime Initiative in Bucharest to assist the SECI Centre. The SECI Centre will also be linked to the future RCC and  I am suggesting that reports by the Centre should become a regular subject on your SEECP agenda.

2. My next suggestion is that you give your active support to the South East Europe Police Chiefs Association (SEPCA) and provide them with the resources needed for the strengthening of  their association . In my view, Chiefs of Police should play a key role in encouraging regional law enforcement cooperation and should also report to the RCC. The Chiefs could play a role similar to that of the EU Chiefs of Police Task Force and they would definitely benefit from close ties with their EU colleagues. SEPCA should become an important strategic partner for the SECI Centre. In short, you  Ministers could use SEPCA to ensure that regional law enforcement will be well coordinated and you could also task SEPCA to focus on specific priorities and to report to you on results achieved.

3. One of the main ‘lines of business’ of international organised crime concerns stolen vehicles and many of these stolen vehicles find their way into South Eastern Europe. Two weeks ago the 4^th Regional Conference on Stolen Vehicle Crime in SEE was held in Bled, Slovenia and has adopted the recommendations, which you will find at your tables. In essence, these recommendations amount to giving high priority to fighting Stolen Vehicle Crime and to intensify practical cooperation within the SEE region and with European and international partners such as EUROPOL and INTERPOL. I am requesting you to fully support the “Bled-process” and to task your collaborators to effectively remove stolen vehicle crime as one of the main sources of income for the international organised crime networks operating in SEE.

4. Concerning anti-corruption the Stability Pact Anti-corruption Initiative has been stimulating cooperation between anti-corruption experts in SEE through exchanging their experiences, and training seminars. In May 2005 a ministerial declaration was adopted By SEE Ministers of Justice setting a joint agenda for Ten Specific Anti-corruption Measures. This anti-corruption initiative has been proving its added value and the regional partners have agreed to reconfirm their mutual cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding later today. Obviously, also the anti-corruption initiative will be part of the RCC’s agenda and they will, undoubtedly, also be reporting to you Ministers.

5. Finally, although migration is not on our agenda for today, there is little doubt that migration issues should be high on the agenda’s of the ministers of JHA.  Among the subjects with an international and regional dimension, migration, of course, is a very good example. Also, illegal migration is often related to the activities of organised crime networks and may include trafficking in human beings.

The countries of the Western Balkans have established in 2004 the Migration Asylum Refugees Regional Initiative, with a Regional Centre in Skopje. In particular last year this Centre, has started to organize seminars and workshops of great relevance not only for regional cooperation, but also of immediate importance for the EU integration process. The Regional Centre is facing some difficulties at the moment, so I am appealing to you to ensure that this Skopje migration Centre will receive all necessary support from your Ministries. I mean political support, and financial and in-kind support. The MARRI Centre should be used much more actively by the experts in your ministries (not only Ministries of Foreign Affairs, but Ministries of Interior especially) as a forum for regional cooperation on migration issues… and for EU integration. I would also like to use this opportunity to thank the Croatian government for putting forward its candidacy for the incoming Presidency of the MARRI Regional Forum, currently held by BH. The future Presidency will be formally announced at the upcoming Regional Forum meeting on 26 April.