In order to ensure and guarantee a democratic society, it is necessary to eliminate corruption pressure and the activities of organized crime, said Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev in his speech at the opening of the Fourth Forum of Prosecutors General from the Balkan countries in Sofia, organized by the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office.
"The problems we need to solve are not the self-serving problems of any prosecutor's office, they are problems and challenges to the democratic functioning of our societies. In order to ensure and guarantee it, it is necessary to eliminate the corruption pressure, the activity of organized crime, which now with new technologies and the single European space is acquiring scales that are a challenge for each country individually, which is why there is no need to deal alone with problems that we can deal with together, as you have been doing in recent years within the framework of cooperation“, Georgiev addressed the guests of the forum.
The Minister stated that the Bulgarian state, the government, have the categorical will and determination to assist in the exchange of experience and the establishment of good practices, recognizing that the times we live in are full of challenges.
He noted that the institutions in Bulgaria over the past eight months have carried out a “revolution in criminal law“ in connection with the implementation of the commitments to remove the country from the gray list for money laundering. Georgiev pointed out that the concept and regulation of terrorism have been reformed, liability has been expanded and adequate sanction mechanisms have been provided for legal entities involved in criminal activity, the criminal process has been modernized with regard to crypto assets and the collection of electronic evidence.
The Fourth Forum of Prosecutors General of the Balkan Countries brings together the heads of prosecutors' offices from the region of South-Eastern Europe and partner institutions from the European Union at the highest level. It is being held at the initiative of the Prosecutors General of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Turkey. The first event is in 2019 in Izmir. Sofia is hosting the forum for the second time, which aims to maintain the established stable partnership and interaction between the prosecutors' offices of the Balkan countries on criminal matters, the fight against cross-border organized crime, illegal migration, etc.
The topics to be discussed focus on countering terrorism and drug trafficking, investigating crimes committed in a digital environment with cryptocurrencies, and strengthening cooperation with third countries to counter transnational crime in the Balkan region.