Bulgaria Minister Thanks UK for Police Cooperation

Diplomacy | February 8, 2010, Monday

Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and his UK counterpart Alan Johnson during their meeting on Monday. Photo by Interior MInistry

Bulgarian Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, has thanked the UK for helping Bulgaria boost its cooperation with Europol.

Tsvetanov is part of a delegation led by PM Boyko Borisov. On Monday he met with his UK counterpart Alan Johnson, the press center of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry announced.

The Bulgarian Minister expressed his gratitude to the UK government for helping the Bulgarian Interior Ministry with developing a strategy for bringing the police closer to society, and with realizing a PHARE Program project for tackling internal corruption.

The Bulgarian government has made it clear it valued highly UK’s lead in improving the quality of real-time information exchange and police cooperation within Europol, as well as the deepening of transatlantic cooperation against international tourism.

With respect of the EU Security Strategy presented by the Spanish EU Presidency during the EU Council in Toledo, Minister Tsvetanov outlined Bulgaria’s major priorities – guaranteeing the rule of law in the country, tackling organized crime, and being radically strict against corruption.

He cited the moves of the new government for removing the redundant functions of police institutions in Bulgaria as an example in that respect.

“We have recently achieved an unprecedented level of team work between the law enforcing institutions and the prosecutors,” Tsvetanov told his UK counterpart.

He has pointed out that the other major priority for Bulgaria was joining the Schengen Area Agreement in March 2011.