Deputy Prosecutor General Desislava Pironeva and Prosecutor Mariyana Lilova from the "International" Department at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office took part in the 4th EuroMed Forum of Prosecutors General of EU Member States and Southern Partner States (from North Africa and the Middle East). The meeting was held on 12-13 October 2022 at Eurojust headquarter in the Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands. The event provided an opportunity for the Prosecutors General and experts from each country represented at the forum, under the auspices of Eurojust and the European Commission (EC), to develop an interregional platform for maintaining trust, mutual understanding and effective cooperation at highest judicial levels.
The forum was also attended by representatives of Eurojust, including President Ladislav Harman, of European Commission, of CrimEx Group, representatives of the Consultative Forum of the Prosecutors General, of the Judicial Training Network and others.
The program of the event focused on issues of interest to Eurojust members and their partners from the Mediterranean region related to judicial cooperation in the investigation of cross-border crime. The discussions also centered around the challenges facing the members of EuroMed Justice arising from the growing migratory pressure on EU external borders, including our country, which creates risks of violation of security and European citizens` rights .
One of the objectives of the fourth meeting is to report on the progress made by Member States in the EuroMed Justice program in relation to priorities set by the participants during last year's meeting. This will help to improve the Strategy and Action Plan for the period 2022-2025 related to combating human trafficking, illegal migration and the confiscation of illegally acquired assets.
The EuroMed Justice team reported on the developed activities for the implementation of the Strategy and the Action Plan, as well as the progress achieved. Within the discussions, the new perspectives were outlined for the local prosecutor's offices to be developed in the next year/s for further implementing the Strategy.
In the framework of last year's forum, the first ever "Interregional Strategy for Judicial Cooperation" was adopted, prioritised in the area of building a common policy between countries to combat smuggling, migrant trafficking and the recovery of assets acquired from criminal activity.
The Inter-Institutional Group for Cooperation on Criminal Matters - EuroMed Justice was established in 2018 under the patronage of the Attorney General of Spain. The group's main priority is to strengthen cooperation between EU member states and the Southern Partner States (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia) in the fight against terrorism, cross-border organized crime, human trafficking and crossing of the flow of illegally acquired assets.