EU-BALTIC: "Organised crime" grouping
01 March 1998
The number of out of area initiatives the EU is participating in is increasing apace. One of the latest is the "Task-Force on organised crime in the Baltic Sea Region". When the first Baltic Sea Summit was held in May 1996 the idea of setting up a Task Force was not even on the agenda, "suggestions were put forward at the meeting", and it was "somewhat unclear after the summit meeting how the Task Force should be formed". The conclusions to the Summit suggested that the Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson might take the initiative. This he duly did and between June 1996 and December 1997 twelve meetings were held of the "personal representatives" of the Prime Ministers (each of whom was accompanied by two "experts"). Alongside these meetings to prepare and implement a series of measures "a number of ad hoc expert groups have been formed consisting of experts from inter alia police, customs and border/coast guard authorities." The participant countries are: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithunia, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden plus the Head of the European Commission's Task Force on justice and home affairs (Adrian Fortescue) and the Presidency of the European Union (currently the UK).
The objectives of the Task Force is to bring together police, customs and coast/border guard and migration authorities to combat drugs trafficking, "illegal migration and trafficking of human beings", stolen vehicles, arms, money laundering and "violent crimes". An "immediate operative aim" is to improve border arrangements "consistent with EU and Schengen obligations".
Like so many of this new generation of post-Maastricht ad hoc arrangements existing legal and bilateral/multilateral agreements have been strung together to allow "international cooperation in the fight against organised crime" to be developed "fairly rapidly" on a "concrete and practical level". The "key to the success" has been the "general agreement" between the governments that:
"the work, as much as possible, should be based on national legislation leaving aside discussions on a joint legal basis. IT has been proven that very much can be carried out jointly within the framework of national legislation and existing international agreements."
Having set up the Task Force it undertook a number of studies, operations, and experiments over 18 months. If funding is needed for future projects then it will be readily available through the Commission's Phare and Tacis programme. The Task Force has been extended for another year (1998) and taken on a more permanent form with the establishment of an "Operative Committee (OPC)" comprised of "law enforcement officers" plus the European Commission and the EU Presidency.
Cooperation in practice
Each of the participant countries undertook a number of studies/measures over the 18 months covered by the report. Germany tested a "contact points" system for the 24-hour exchange of information (phone and fax network).
Norway headed up the creation of BALTCOM, a Baltic Sea Encrypted Network, based on the X-400 Interpol network. BALTCOM will enable the bilateral exchange of information and intelligence including "information concerning individuals or criminal organisations involved in organised crime". All information that can be "legally" released under national law "should be transferred without undue delay or bureaucratic obstacles".
Five "operative actions" involving all the participant countries were undertaken. One operation looking for amphetamines, "SPEED II", involved 1,988 law enforcement and 128 dogs. The report says "the seizure of amphetamine was this time limited". The operation covering stolen vehicles, organised by Poland and Russia, was carried out over 24 hours in April 1997. 26,299 vehicles were stopped, 37 were stolen. In October a two day operation involved 2,500 officers - 16,503 vehicles were stopped, 11 were stolen. The report observes that "All stolen vehicl