Bulgarian PM Urges Balkan Interior Ministers to Lift Borders

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov speaking before the Interior Ministers from Southeast Europe in Sofia. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov opened Friday in Sofia the third meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe.

“We have been fighting with organized crime, contraband, and all other issues in Southeast Europe for 10 months now,” Borisov told the Interior Ministers of the Southeast European states while pointing out that he has been learning very carefully from all of his failures and mistakes.

“The government is backing the actions of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry 100%. Back in the days I never made it to become Interior Minister, I only made to a Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry,” he pointed out referring to his term as the top cop in the 2001-2005 Saxe-Coburg government.

In his words, the exchange of information among the Interior Ministries and police services of the Southeast European states is at a very high level.

“As a country, we support all other states that are aspiring to join NATO and the EU,” said Borisov citing a statement made Thursday in Sofia by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that the welfare of the Balkans depends on the region’s Euro-Atlantic integration.

“We have got to provide for welfare through joint infrastructure projects, to lift the borders, and to develop the transport corridors, this is what our citizens want,” the Bulgarian PM said.

The Interior Ministers’ meeting taking place on May 20-21, 2010, in Sofia is under the auspices of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office, and is hosted by Interior Minister Tsvetanov.

The Bulgarian Chairmanship plans two working sessions for the meeting in Sofia of the Committee of Ministers of the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe, according to the Convention Secretariat.

During the first session the respective Ministers will review the progress in the implementation process of the Convention and outline further actions to be taken towards its full implementation.

The second session will be dedicated to discussions about the aspects of the Convention as a modern instrument for information exchange and effective police cooperation in the region.

The meeting in Sofia will be the concluding event of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office. The Republic of Macedonia is the next Contracting Party to hold the Chairmanship for a period of 6 months.