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Round table
June 16, 2003
Center for the Study of Democracy
Europol Director Jurgen
Storbeck in a visit to CSD said national and international
cooperation is needed to combat organized crime. He underlined the
importance of multidisciplinary approach and combined efforts of
both member states and applicant countries to build a common
European area of justice and security.
The round table discussion with a group of MoI
Academy lecturers, National Police officers, NSBOP and Customs
experts, CSD Trafficking and Corruption Task Force representatives
and foreign liaison officers, was opened by the Deputy Minister of
Interior Boyko Kotzev. He announced the signature of an agreement
for cooperation between Bulgaria and Europol and the appointment of
a Bulgarian liaison officer in Europol's headquarters next month.
The agreement which has been negotiated since 1998, was delayed due
to the lack of adequate legislation on data protection.
Mr. Storbeck took a detailed look at the work of
Europol outlining the main priorities and difficulties. Europol is
engaged in combating drugs trafficking, terrorism, illegal
immigration and human trafficking and money laundering. Its
activities include:
- information exchange between MS' gendarmeries,
customs, criminal police services, security forces; developing
national databases and a common EU database
- analytical work - elaborating strategic reports and operational
analyses but also threat assessment and risk analyses
- harmonizing working methods
- developing its own investigative services
Different law systems in the MSs and the
coordination between all law enforcement organizations acting
within EU - Eurojust, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and
the future EU Border Police - are among the main problems faced by
Europol.
Mr. Storbeck outlined Europol's immediate tasks:
integrating applicant countries' systems into the EU law
enforcement, building law enforcement and security outside Europe,
including the Balkans, and internal development. He expressed hope
that the good cooperation with Bulgarian authorities would
continue.
Answering a question by Mr. Stefan Nikolov, lecturer
in the Security Faculty of the MoI Academy regarding the relations
between Europol and Interpol Mr. Storbeck said that the two
organizations cooperate very well in exchanging experts and data. A
major difference between them is that Interpol is missing the
multidisciplinary approach because it was conceived and acts as a
global criminal police organization .
CSD Chairman Dr. Ognian Shentov commented on
the possible role of Europol to counter organized crime on the
Balkans and asked about the mechanisms of cooperation with the US.
Mr. Storbeck pointed out that EU leaders still focus mainly on the
Western Balkans when discussing organized crime issues and that all
countries' efforts should be taken into consideration. The
relations with the US are very complicated because of the existence
of 30 law enforcement agencies in the US and the new internal
security threats posed by 11 September.
Jьrgen Storbeck
Bio data
Jurgen Storbeck was appointed as director of Europol in 1999. His previous positions in Europol
include coordinator of the Europol Drugs Unit in the Hague, the
Netherlands (1994) and head of the Europol project team based in
Strasbourg, France (1992-1993). In 1977-1993 Mr. Storbeck held
several positions in the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA). He was born in
Flensburg , Germany.
For more see:
Corruption, Contraband and Cross-Border Crime resource
center
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