The Minister of the Interior, Taulant Balla, was received in The Hague by the Executive Director of EUROPOL, Catherine De Bolle. The discussions focused on deepening the cooperation with EUROPOL to advance the process of self-purification of the State Police. “This is an important process, directly related to increasing the credibility of the State Police among citizens, and for this purpose, we will continue to exchange valuable information related to this process, to separate once and for all those police officers who work honestly and devoutly in the interest of the objectives and goals of the State Police, from those employees of the State Police who, in the course of their activities or in the exercise of their duties, exchange information with criminal groups or individuals or damage the work of the State Police,” emphasized Balla, who described this commitment as the revenge of the rule of law against organized crime, and which strikes hard at the old disease of crime’s ties with the police and the judiciary. The focus will also be on the fight against organized crime and cybercrime. EUROPOL will provide the best expertise to the Albanian police in this regard. “The cooperation with EUROPOL will reach another level during 2024, extending to 120 joint operational activities, where Albania will be an important part of their implementation on the European territory, so not only in Albania but also in an important part of the EU Member States”, stressed the Minister of Interior after the high-level meeting. EUROPOL has an extensive structure, not only in the EU, but also in other countries, in the fight against criminal activities, including illegal human trafficking. Despite the fact that our region is an important corridor, Albania is highly appreciated by the partner countries for the visible results it has achieved.
Minister Balla: The cooperation with Europol is very important in various tasks that the National Police have in the fight against organized crime, but also other forms of criminality, such as the fight against cybercrime, the fight against economic and financial crimes, illegal trafficking in human beings and many challenges that we have to face together with the best expertise that EUROPOL can offer us.
In fact, the cooperation with Europol in 2024 will recognize another level, extending it to 120 joint operational activities, where Albania will be an important part of their implementation in the European territory, not only in Albania but also in an important part of the EU member countries.
We have agreed with the Executive Director of Europol to get expertise mainly in the field of cybercrime, where it is clear that it will be a big challenge not only for us but also for other countries, including EU countries.
We also discussed with the Executive Director of EUROPOL the process of police self-correction. It is an important process, that is directly related to the increase of the credibility of the State Police among the citizens, and for this purpose we will continue to exchange valuable information related to this process, to separate once and for all those police officers who work honestly and devoutly in the interest of the goals and purposes of the State Police, from those State Police employees who, during the activity or performance of their duties, exchange information with criminal groups or individuals or damage the work of the State Police. Thanks to the exchange of information with EUROPOL, we have already managed to identify police officers who are under investigation for accessing encrypted applications. We will continue to share this information daily.
It is very important to understand that EUROPOL has an extensive structure, not only in the EU but also in other countries, in the fight against criminal activities, where an important part of the discussion has been the fight against illegal human trafficking. Let’s not forget that the Western Balkans remains an important corridor where, in fact, Albania is highly appreciated both by the European Commission and by other partners for the visible results it has achieved in the fight against this phenomenon. Meanwhile, we will continue to intensify cooperation and exchange of information in other areas of interest in the fight against financial crime, economic crime and other areas of mutual interest.