The conference highlighted the importance of cooperation among countries in the region, and cooperation with the European Judicial Network. Efforts are underway to establish regional arrest warrants, which would help bring criminals to justice faster. Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic estimates that warrants would cut extradition proceedings from as many as six months to two months. Conference participants also suggested forming a team of regional experts to help with freezing or confiscating illegally acquired assets.
The state secretary in the Serbian Ministry of Justice, Slobodan Homen, said there is an “urgent need to improve regional cooperation in the fight against organized crime, corruption and other serious crime.” Serbian president Boris Tadic said the rift that opened between ethnic groups in the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia did not deter ties between criminal networks, but rather, boosted their criminal activities.
“The political fragmentation of societies in Europe did not mean fragmentation of criminal organizations as well. The political fragmentation in the Balkans has accelerated the cooperation among organized criminal groups, which have always been one step ahead of the institutions that fight them,” he said.
EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Cecilia Malstrom told the gathering that establishing effective policies against organized crime and corruption is a major challenge and will take time, but the Balkan countries are moving in the right direction.
Another step towards regional cooperation taken at the conference was Serbia’s signing of extradition treaties with Macedonia and Slovenia. Such extradition treaties are aimed at preventing citizens with dual citizenships from fleeing to their other country to hide from prosecution.
The conclusions of the conference will be sent for adoption by the participating countries. Croatia, Albania and Greece have requested additional time to review them.
