First CEPOL Exchange Programme between Western Balkan officers and EUROPOL The Hague

From 1-5 July 2019, Europol hosted five Western Balkan law enforcement officers in the Hague, in a ‘pilot’ project led exchange programme organised in close cooperation between the CEPOL Financial Investigation In-Service Training Western Balkan Project.

It was the first time that our CEPOL project, based on EU funding facilitated this exchange.

During this week, a colleague from Albania (Director of the Directorate against Economic and Financial Crime in Albanian State Police), Bosnia & Herzegovina (Senior Inspector in the Directorate for Cooperation of Police Bodies in B&H), Kosovo* (Chief of Unit for Planning and Development), North Macedonia (Deputy Head of the National Unit for Suppression of Smuggling of Migrants and Human Trafficking) and Serbia (Police Lieutenant of the International Operational Police Cooperation Department / EUROPOL National Point of Contact) received a full insight into all operational activities of EUROPOL related to the activities in their respective home jurisdictions.

This exchange also activated better cooperation and network activities between the respective partners.

This pilot exchange will be followed up by an exchange between EUROPOL officers visiting the respective Western Balkan countries, where they will be hosted / accompanied by the participants of this first exchange.