Dragutin Mate, Slovenian Minister of the Interior and President of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, praised the European Union’s activities in the area of internal security at the Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), held at Brdo.
“As threats brought by the modern world, especially terrorism and organised crime, have increased, so has cooperation between Member States on internal security. Our citizens are discovering that their safety depends not on national police forces alone but that we are facing new phenomena that can be countered only by joint activity on the part of all the Member States,” said Mr Mate in his speech. He went on to present the European Union’s activities under the Hague Programme, focused in particular on three key axes: active migration policy, external border surveillance and strengthened police cooperation.
Mr Mate devoted particular attention to the importance of cooperation with police authorities in the neighbourhood of the EU. “The biggest challenge for Slovenia and other countries is organised crime; it is not only a national issue but also a regional, continental and sometimes even a global one,” he said, and went on to emphasise the importance of cooperation with the Western Balkan countries and to express his support for visa liberalisation for this region. He concluded by pointing out that the Slovenian Presidency was of great importance, since it was taking place at a crucial stage in the transition from regional to European cooperation.
