EU, Balkans tackle organised crime, weapons trafficking

EU, Balkans tackle organised crime, weapons trafficking

Balkan countries have adopted an action plan against illicit trafficking of weapons.

Balkan countries agreed to take additional measures to interdict weapons trafficking. [Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia]

The EU and Balkan countries are developing mechanisms to tackle organised crime and corruption that may is linked to financing and arming extremists, experts said.

The interior ministers of Balkan states adopted an action plan during a Justice and Home Affairs EU-Western Balkans ministerial forum held in Belgrade last month to fight organised crime groups, terrorism and arms trafficking.

Co-operation with the Balkans is crucial to stop trafficking, according to Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality. "I urged our partners to use the international instruments on the freezing and confiscation of criminal assets to take the profit out of organised crime," Jourova said.

The forum is held every year to foster regional and EU co-operation against crime and corruption as well as all forms of trafficking, including arms trafficking, in accordance with EU standards.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Italy as well as the EU justice and home affairs commissioners and regional NGOs participated in the forum.

The adopted action plan seeks to employ joint methods to significantly reduce illegal arms trafficking through 2019.

There is a need to co-ordinate activities to avoid duplication of efforts, said Gurbuz Bahadir, director general of the Southeast European Law Enforcement Centre in Bucharest.

"There are flexible tools of co-operation with legal grounds such...