BULGARIA TO JOIN AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Politics | September 29, 2001, Saturday // 00:00

Bulgarian Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov participated in a meeting of the Justice and Interior Affairs ministers of the EU in Brussels. The priority issue discussed was the need for joint efforts in fighting human trafficking. An agreement was reached to make the punishment for traffickers and the exploiters of human beings not less than 8 years in prison in all member states. They also decided together with their counterparts of the candidate countries that EUROPOL will be the institutionto be asked for cooperation in such cases. In this way the procedure for information exchange will be streamlined, the countries will be able to exchange experience and representatives of several countries will be able to work together. In his address, the Bulgarian Interior Minister voiced Bulgaria`s desire for finalizing the bilateral agreements in this field. It emerged after the meeting that it could happen before the end of the year so that with the beginning of 2002 Bulgaria can send a liaison officer to the EUROPOL headquarters in the Hague. Since the borders of countries such as Bulgaria will soon become external borders of the Union, the Union intends to contribute resources and people for joint patrols to guarantee security along the border. `This will make drug traffickers and those who sneak across the border think twice, when this matter gets so much attention and foreign teams get involved,` Petkanov said. `Illegal crossing of the border and the smuggling of people and drugs will become harder,` he added.

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