Today, 24.11.2021, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria Ivan Geshev participated in the opening of the Forum of the Prosecutors General of the European Union with their colleagues from the Mediterranean region in The Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Interinstitutional Group on Cooperation in Criminal Matters - EUROMed was established in March 2017 under the auspices of the Attorney General of Spain.
The main priority of the group is to strengthen cooperation between EU Member States and southern partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia) in the fight against terrorism, cross-border organized crime, trafficking in human beings and interrupting the flow of illegally acquired assets.
This year’s Forum in the Hague is organized by Eurojust and is attended by Prosecutors General of the EU Member States, the State of Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, etc., representatives of the European Commission, European Judicial Network in Criminal Matters, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors of the Council of Europe and the International Association of Prosecutors.
The focus of the discussion at the two-day high-level forum is the need to optimize cross-border cooperation in the Mediterranean region in combating human trafficking, illegal migration, arms and drug smuggling, money laundering, economic and environmental crime.
A new Action Plan for Combating International Crimes is also to be discussed and adopted, aimed at speeding up the exchange of information between prosecutorial institutions and increasing the effectiveness of joint investigations in order to ensure stability and security in the region.