On Thursday 30 October, the European Union and the Western Balkans adopted a new five-year action plan for preventing and combating terrorism and violent extremism, on the fringes of the EU/Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The new plan “will strengthen cooperation and capacity-building in five main areas: alignment with EU counterterrorism legislation, preventing extremism, strengthening cooperation with Europol, including on counter-terrorism investigations, reinforcing the capacity to investigate terrorism financing, and strengthening the protection of critical infrastructure and public spaces”, a press release explained.
“We talked about digital or online security and [the] fight against terrorism. And also the second topic was regarding the migration, asylum, and alignment of visa policies”, Ivica Bošnjak, the country’s Deputy Minister for Security, summed up at a press briefing.
He noted that in June, his country had signed an association agreement with the European agency Frontex, which will deploy 1,300 agents at its borders with Croatia and Serbia from 31 October.
“Western Balkan countries have a task to work on alignment of their regulation with EU acquis”, he added.
In addition, the country has been able to significantly reduce - by 55% - the influx of migrants on the road to Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said, alongside the European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, and Danish ministers Peter Hummelgaard and Rasmus Stoklund.
The new plan complements the one in place since the end of 2018 and includes, among other things, the participation of the Western Balkan countries in the Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation and in operational projects led by Europol.
With regard to the first objective (‘A Robust Framework for Countering Terrorism, Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism’), the participating countries should endeavour to identify the gaps in the current legal framework and update it regularly to keep it in line with the EU legal framework and international standards. They are also invited to comply with the directive on victims’ rights.
With regard to effectively preventing and countering violent extremism, they should strive to effectively combat all forms of violent extremism and radicalisation, promote peaceful cohabitation between communities and fight the polarisation of society.
Link to the plan: https://aeur.eu/f/j7r
See the joint ministerial communiqué : https://aeur.eu/f/j8p (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)