Minutes SPOC Steering Group Meeting

1) The meeting was opened by the remarks by the Chair, State Secretary Farcas and Mr. Bernd Hemingway, representative of the Special Coordinator.

2) Mr. Hemingway then reported on the issue of the creation of the Executive Secretariat, illustrating the reasons why the S.C. sent his letter to the Ministers of Interior of the countries of the region. The representative of the SC explained that The tri-partite approach to the issue of the Secretariat (decided in Budapest) would be unsustainable, for both economic AND management reasons. The participants unanimously agreed that the Secretariat should then be created in Bucharest.

3) The representatives of the countries of the region reported about progress achieved in their countries. Namely:

• The representative of Montenegro highlighted the political will of his country to combat transnational crime with a multidisciplinary approach. He referred on a new Public Procurement Law recently approved and on a drafted Anticorruption Law. He reported on an Agency for Anticorruption Initiative, dealing with drafting Laws and sub legal documents.
• The representative of Albania reported on the considerable efforts undertaken to improve the already existing legislation in the field of O.C. He reported on the national Action Plan against o.c. highlighting the determination of Albania to meet European and international standards as a strategic objective for the country. He stressed the need for help above all in the field of technical assistance to accomplish the expected obligations in this process.
• The representative of Croatia reported on developments of cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina. He reported on the agreement among the MoI of Croatia, FRY, BiH to repress the illegal migration. He also reported on the new amendments to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering recently approved by the Parliament. He stressed the importance of further developing cooperation, exchange of information and experience among the European countries.
• The representative of Hungary reported on a witness protection Law approved by the Parliament. He stressed the importance to improve the transmission of information concerning criminal groups operating in different countries. He reported on the agreements with FRY and on the cooperation agreement with Europol, which was signed in October 2001. He reported on the establishment of a body coordinating the fight against o.c., collecting and analyzing information relating this issue. He stressed the importance of improving cooperation and exchanging information among the countries.
• The representative of Moldova reported on the efforts and difficulties to bring the country in line with international standards. Moldova did not adopt a special Law on o.c but introduced significant new dispositions in the penal code (particularly referring to criminal groups). Moldova is introducing the crime of money laundering into its code. Moldova adopted criminal legislation on trafficking of human beings and ratified the European Conventions on computer crimes and money laundering. He asked to circulate the list (addresses etc.) of all SPOC representatives, underlining the urgent necessity of an executive SPOC secretariat in the region.
• The representative of fyr/Macedonia reported on the efforts to meet European standards. Namely, the development of an Integrated Border Management strategy according to the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement signed last year. (New legislation on money laundering and corruption has been approved. A new article punishing the trafficking of human beings was introduced in the penal code. A new law for collecting illicit arms has been drafted. He confirmed the strong political will of the country to improve the efforts in combating o.c. following a long term strategy (according to the U.N. Convention against Transnational o.c., signed by Macedonia).
• The representative of Romania reported on the adoption of a law to combat illegal migration and on legislation on personal data protection (by the end of the year this new legislation will be implemented). He reported on the agreement with Ukraine, Croatia and Moldova to combat illegal migration. Romania is developing good cooperation with all SECI member countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia). He stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation and exchange of information among the countries of the region and these and the EU countries. He urged the creation of the executive secretariat of SPOC as soon as possible.

4) Mr. Paolo Borgna judicial expert in the office of the Special Coordinator illustrated the implementation of the Italian funded project, developed by Transcrime-University of Trento, on exchange of information in the field of O.C. The very operative aim of the project was highlighted. Its operative phase has been launched on the end of May with the secondment of a Judicial Assistant by University of Trento to the Office of the SP. The participants agreed on the importance of the project, and assured their full support.