Events

Between 30–31 January 2014, a Meeting of the DCAF Working Group on Legal Reform tool place in Bijeljina, BiH, under the auspices of the Border Security Programme. The meeting was attended by legal experts and experts for readmission and return from Albania, BiH, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Frontex. The draft multi-lateral agreement on mutual cooperation in the area of joint return flights to extra-regional countries of origin and its implementing protocol was finalised, before it now enters into national adoption procedures. Participants were further familiarised with Frontex's experience and good EU practices, and reached important conclusions regarding the training and other necessary pre-requirements in order to bring the regional mechanism of joint return into reality as planned.

A DCAF Meeting on Facilitation of Common and Coordinated Measures in the Western Balkan Region under the auspices of the DCAF Border Security Programme was held between 10–12 February in Belgrade, Serbia. It brought together Western Balkan police experts and practitioners, as well as Hungarian, Croatian, FRONTEX and UNODC and DCAF experts in the areas of border security and cross-border police cooperation.

The participants evaluated the results and achievements of the Common and Coordinated Operations conducted in 2013. Beneficiaries presented their proposals, suggestions and comments for the overall improvement of the quality, substance, organisation and outcomes of the future measures. Dates and venues were agreed for Common and Coordinated Operations in the Western Balkan region to be held during 2014 with the aim to facilitate and upgrade further regional cooperation in the fight against threats to border integrity and security of citizens. The useful experience gained in the organisation and execution of Common and Coordinated Operations in 2013 will be applied in the implementation of operational measures in 2014, and the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe (PCC SEE) and national legal frameworks will serve as the legal basis.

Regional heads of cabinets of Ministries of Interior/Security and heads of border police services gathered for a regular steering meeting under the auspices of the DCAF Border Security Programme in Bijeljina, from 26-28 February 2014.

Representatives from Albania, BiH, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia made a thorough overview of the progress achieved by the beneficiary countries in main thematic areas covered by the Programme - namely Schengen Integration, Education and Training, Common and Coordinated Measures, Tackling Irregular Migration Challenges, and Operational Cooperation in the area of Return. Together they prepared the agenda and outlined main issues to be discussed by their ministers at the
upcoming 10th Annual Ministerial Review Conference on Border Security in Southeast Europe, which is taking place on 9 April 2014 in Croatia. They also provided valuable and concrete feedback regarding past activities and proposals regarding further activities under the Programme.

The meeting of the DCAF Schengen Integration Task Force at expert level was held within the DCAF Border Security Programme in Podgorica, Montenegro, from 19-21 March 2014. The general objective of the process under the Schengen Integration component of the Programme is to enable regional progress in the area of adapting to Schengen standards, legislative requirements and implementing Schengen-related tools in view of the overall fulfilling of conditions under Accession Chapter 24.

The first part of the meeting focused on the evaluation results for General Information and Border Crossing Points which gives an insight to what extent the beneficiary countries meet the Schengen criteria at this stage. Furthermore, the strong need for intensified communication and exchange of information was identified, specifically between the beneficiary countries and the DCAF proposal to share the insight into the evaluation reports was supported by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. 

Second part of the workshop addressed the topics agreed at the previous meeting such as the Montenegrin experience under the Schengen integration as part of the EU negotiation process as well as the novelties in EU legislation; the benefits of the exchange of good practices and experience of case studies regarding the calculation of the number of border control staff needed on local level as part of evaluation, the novelties about relevant information systems relevant for border police work, e.g. EUROSUR, availability of databases for the border control, and undertaken anti-corruption measures in the field of border police.

Workshop on Regional Risk Analysis Methods under the auspices of the DCAF Border Security Programme was held from 23 to 28 March 2014, in the “Training Center of the Macedonian Ministry of Interior”, located in Idrizovo, near Skopje, Macedonia. It brought together officials from the border police, experts/practitioners in the field of risk analysis, responsible for the development and execution of the risk analysis functions in the HQ of the border police service or on a regional level.

The Workshop was organised to support the use of the already developed DCAF web based application (Border Sentry) for statistical data collection and data and information exchange in support of the Regional Risk Analysis. In order to assure the Border Sentry complementary statistical analysis, the use of statistical tools, specifically the practice in statistical data analysis as provided by Microsoft Office Excel program package, needed to be practically addressed. During the Workshop the participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, working on risk analysis issues, discussed and shared knowledge and experience on the practical use of statistical tools for statistical data analysis in support of the Regional Risk Analysis.

The DCAF Border Security Programme facilitates the development and implementation of region-wide operational police measures aimed to fight cross-border crime, organised crime and illegal migration as falling under the responsibility of border police authorities. The Common Operation “Nišava 2014”, which was held between 2-8 April 2014 at a selected part of the Serbian-Bulgarian Green Border and at the Border Crossing Point Gradina, was based on regional risk analyses and operational needs. It focused on the detection of illegal migrants at the green border and on second-line checks at the Border Crossing Point Gradina. It also included activities for the detection of other cross-border criminal activities, such as e.g. detection of trafficking in human beings, smuggling of goods and motor vehicle related crime.

The Operation enabled border police officers from the Western Balkan countries to work side by side with their colleagues from EU Member States with the same goal and methods. Namely, the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Serbia and Republic of Slovenia joined efforts in this operational measure, all Contracting Parties to the Police Cooperation Convention in Southeast Europe (PCC SEE), as well as the Republic of Croatia as a PCC SEE non-Member. Lessons learned and common experience from the Common and Coordinated Operations held through 2012 and 2013 was successfully applied in the planning, organisation and implementation of the Operation.

The Common Operation achieved the planned goals and outcomes, including significant operational results in the fight against cross-border crime and illegal migration. It also demonstrated that the countries in the region are prepared to share the responsibility in ensuring regional security, and are able to perform in operational measures executed together between their countries and EU Member States.

The 10th Annual Ministerial Review Conference on Border Security in Southeast Europe between 9–10 April 2014 in Opatija, Croatia, was hosted by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior and organised by DCAF Ljubljana. It was held back-to-back with two other events hosted by Croatia on the previous two days – namely the Ministerial Conference on Contemporary Challenges in Regional Police Cooperation organised by Switzerland and Croatia, and the 11th PCC SEE Committee of Ministers organised by the PCC SEE Secretariat. It was attended by ministers of the interior/security and other high representatives of the DCAF beneficiary countries Albania, BiH, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, donor countries Croatia and Slovenia, observer countries Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Switzerland, the Office of the EU Special Representative in BiH, EU agencies Cepol and Europol, ICMPD, IOM, MARRI Regional Centre, OSCE, Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, RACVIAC, RCC, USDOJ-ICITAP, and DCAF.

Opening addresses were delivered by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ranko Ostojić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia Gregor Virant, and Amb Dr Theodor H. Winkler, Director of DCAF Geneva. Progress achieved since the restructuring of the DCAF Border Security Programme in early 2012 was reviewed in the 1st session, which was chaired by Mr Ivica Dačić, Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia. Mr Anton Travner, Director of DCAF Ljubljana, and Head of the DCAF Border Security Programme, presented on the achievements under all Programme components through 2012–2013. National statements emphasised the essential role of regional cooperation and the Programme's successfully evolved operational component, where significant operational results were achieved in region-wide cross-border operations aimed to tackle cross-border crime and illegal migration. Presentations by the border police chiefs of the beneficiary countries revealed that crucial progress has been achieved in the last years on national as well as regional level. Minister Dačić emphasised the meaning of the future regional agreement to enable joint return flight operations as an important priority, where solutions should be sought to do away with any difficulties that any countries may have regarding the signing of the jointly prepared multi-lateral agreement. The 2nd session was devoted to discussions on the future steps in the Programme, where it was decided that a new common guiding action plan is to be prepared by the border police chiefs for the endorsement at the next ministerial conference. It is to replace the current multi-annual Regional Action Plan 2012–2015 after its expiry, and provide for further commonly-held tasks for the realisation of the newly adopted goals.

In view of ensuring the long-term sustainability of modern border systems in the Western Balkan region and mutual sharing of responsibility in this process, the ministers agreed to work on greater interoperability of border systems in the area of information exchange, including personal data; seeking and enacting economic solutions towards the harmonisation of use and common procurement of equipment, common infrastructural facilities, establishment of common crossing points; as well as the establishment of common centres for cooperation in the area of border management in the Western Balkan region. The beneficiary countries thanked Croatia and Slovenia for their assistance in the Programme implementation by offerring expertise and support, as well as DCAF and the EU, international and state donors represented at the conference for their contributions in the area of ensuring efficient and integrated border management in the Western Balkan region.

Representatives from Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe Contracting Parties with a thorough background in special investigation actions participated at the Training Course on Special Investigation Actions, which took place in Sarajevo on 6-7 May 2014 and was convened by Bosnia and Herzegovina, who currently holds the Chairmanship in Office, and the PCC SEE Secretariat. The aim of the meeting was to to transfer relevant know-how and methodology in the areas of Cross-Border Surveillance, Controlled Delivery and Undercover Investigations. Participants shared their experiences and best practises in this area to further explore the possibilities for enhanced cross-border cooperation of the law enforcement organisations.

Experts from Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and CEPOL participated at the Training seminar on creating online modules, which took place in Bramshill, UK, from 12-17 May 2014 and was convened by DCAF Ljubljana and CEPOL. The main aim of the event as organised under the EU-funded ISEC project “Developing E-learning Modules on Cross-Border Police Cooperation Tools for Police Education” was to transfer the developed module content in the areas of Data & Information Exchange, Hot Pursuit, and Mixed Patrols into a concrete online modules (beta versions), using CEPOL’s authoring tool. As outcomes of the event, the beta versions of the three online modules are now hosted on CEPOL's e-Net. The finalisation of the modules to version 1.0 is foreseen for the project's 2nd Interim Meeting later this year, when the modules shall become available to all registered users. Options for the promotion of the use of the modules and implementation in national formal training contexts have also been discussed.

The Schengen Integration Task Force under the auspices of the DCAF Border Security Programme has been mandated by the ministers to provide specific assistance to border police services and MoI experts in the process of the preparation and undertaking EU membership and Schengen integration related responsibilities as well as to give the recommendations and to highlight best practises of implementation of the relevant regulations and other documents by providing examples in order to assist beneficiary states to apply the Schengen acquis correctly. The participants of the DCAF Field Activity had the opportunity to visit the Border Crossing Points (BCP) and Border Surveillance Units (BSU) in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro, together with DCAF and EU experts, in the role of an evaluation committee, to provide practical insight and complement the evaluation conducted via the Schengen Self-Evaluation Module. The main objective of the field visit was to be familiarised with the evaluation methodology from the preparation to implementation in the areas of management, risk analysis and threats, controls and procedures, infrastructure and equipment, and staff training at the BCP, as well as the strategy of the border surveillance, operational effectiveness, personnel, resources (equipment available for surveillance), level of controls at external borders, situation awareness (description of methods of surveillance used in order to detect and identify potential illegal crossing of the border), and reaction capability (ability to encounter incidents - routine situations and situations posing an intensified threat) at the BSU.

 

The preparatory meeting for the First PCC SEE Region-Wide Cross-Border Police Cooperation Exercise, convened under the auspices of the Republic of Bulgaria Chairmanship-In-Office and with support from the PCC SEE Secretariat, took place from 23-26 September 2014 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The meeting was attended by nationally appointed experts on Surveillance and Controlled delivery and EUROPOL representative. The participants discussed the practical execution of the First PCC SEE Region-Wide Cross-Border Police Cooperation Exercise, scheduled to take place between 10 and 19 November 2014. The scenario of the Exercise, codenamed Trappers 2014, was agreed at the meeting and participants also further identified some of the main elements of the exercise which will provide a unique insight into the practical implementation of some of the tools of cross-border police cooperation as provided by the PCC SEE. As such, the participants agreed on the general type of activities to be conducted, established general routes guidelines, defined the “rabbit” (surveyed person of interest) activities and identified the national resources required for the execution of the specific cross-border police activities. Channels of communication in the context of data and information exchange has also been addressed where participants supported the notion set forth by the attending EUROPOL representative, to take full advantage of available EUROPOL channel during the exercise.

This further enriched the potential of the exercise, which will not only show any possible legal and practical gaps in the implementation of the PCC SEE provided cross-border police cooperation tools but also engage all countries in the use of the existing centralised communication channel among the PCC SEE Contracting Parties and practically show its wider-region applicability and its potential impact. This will be an additional opportunity for countries which are not yet using this communication channel on regular basis to test it and utilise its advantages. The outcomes of the exercise will give insight into the current state-of-play and also serve as baseline for drafting future recommendations on filling the possible gaps identified and the corresponding activities to reach this goal.

The twelfth bi-annual meeting of the PCC SEE Expert Working Group was organised under the auspices of the Bulgarian Chairmanship in Office, in cooperation with the PCC SEE Secretariat, in Sofia between 29 September and 1 October 2014. The two-day meeting brought together nationally appointed members from all eleven PCC SEE Contracting Parties and representatives from EUROPOL, FEDPOL, DCAF, MARRI, RCC and ICITAP. Following a detailed overview of PCC SEE-related activities and the progress achieved since the group’s last meeting in March, the Contracting Parties prepared the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Committee of Ministers, to be convened on 11 November 2014 in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia. Among other issues, the upcoming Hungarian PCC SEE Chairmanship presented the activities to be implemented in the first half of 2015, the PCC Secretariat presented an in-depth analysis of the conducted survey on the state of play in the PCC SEE implementation process and informed the participants on the ongoing ISEC project on “Developing E-Learning Modules on Cross-Border Police Cooperation Tools for Police Education“ led by DCAF Ljubljana.

Experts from Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and CEPOL participated at the Second Interim Meeting organised under the EU-funded ISEC project “Developing E-learning Modules on Cross-Border Police Cooperation Tools for Police Education”, which took place in Varna, Bulgaria, from 29 September – 4 October 2014. The main aim of the event was to bring together all experts working on the modules’ content development in order to perform the practical demonstration in e-environment and to conduct quality checks of the developed module content in the areas of Data & Information Exchange, Hot Pursuit, and Mixed Patrols. The participants also focused on promotional strategies for the final outcomes of this ISEC project in individual beneficiary countries, as well as in all EU Member States and/or PCC SEE Contracting Parties. As one of the important outcomes of the event, experts together with CEPOL executed a webinar as an introduction of the three online modules hosted on CEPOL's e-Net to present the modules to the webinar attendees. The finalisation of the modules to version 1.0 is foreseen for the project's Concluding Seminar planned to take place in November 2014, when the final version of modules shall become available. The results of the project will also be introduced by media promotion to the broader public.

The first meeting of Criminal Police Directors of the PCC SEE Contracting Parties, convened under the auspices of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office with support from the PCC SEE Secretariat, took place on 6 and 7 November 2014 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The main topic of the meeting was dedicated to the regional cooperation in the fight against Mobile Organised Criminal Groups (MOCG), i.e. criminal groups of offenders who systematically acquire wealth through theft of property or fraud, having a wide ranging area of operations and being internationally active. During the meeting, the national representatives exchanged experience in countering MOCG and discussed how to enhance cross-border law enforcement cooperation in this respect.

The twelfth meeting of the Committee of Ministers, convened under the auspices of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office, took place on 11 November 2014 in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia. Ministers responsible for home affairs and authorized high officials from the Contracting Parties to the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe gathered with the aim to discuss the progress in the PCC SEE implementation process and further modalities necessary for the advancement of cross-border law enforcement cooperation amongst their countries.

Following the agreement reached between Belgrade and Pristina in February 2012 on the terms of Kosovo* inclusion in regional fora in South Eastern Europe, the Committee of Ministers agreed on the most balanced and mutually acceptable solution, namely to introduce a new “guest” category in the Rules of Procedure, which would allow for the inclusion of Kosovo* in meetings under the PCC SEE framework in this capacity. The Committee of Ministers supported the Slovenian proposal for a regional approach under
the PCC SEE in countering the occurring forms of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization, which pose a threat to the security of the Southeast European region and Europe as a whole. In addition, the Committee of Ministers authorised the PCC SEE
Secretariat to develop and submit, together with the upcoming Hungarian Chairmanship, a proposal for funding to the EU Internal Security Fund.