On 11 June 2018, the IPA2017 project ‘Countering Serious Crime in the Western Balkans’ supported the Montenegrin prosecution office in organizing the conference ‘Eurojust and cooperation with third states: experiences and challenges in the Western Balkans countries’. At this conference, prosecutors-general from almost all Western Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) met with the leadership of Eurojust (president Ladislav Hamran, vice-president Claus Meyer-Cabri, national member for Czech Republic and head of external relations team Lukaš Stary and national member for Croatia Josip Čule) to discuss a closer cooperation. Montenegro hosted the conference as this country is the first country in the region which has a liaison prosecutor in The Hague since December 2017. First experiences from Montenegro as well as practical examples from an efficient judicial cooperation through Eurojust were shared with participants. In order to also stress this cooperation within the framework of the accession process, EU Ambassador, as well as German, Dutch and Italian ambassadors to Montenegro also participated in the conference. On behalf of the IPA2017 project, CILC deputy-director Eric Vincken made some introductory remarks at the start of the conference. During and after the conference, Eurojust representatives also held bilateral meetings with the prosecutors-general of Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to see how the process of concluding a Cooperation Agreement can be accelerated. In case of Albania, it is expected that the Cooperation Agreement will be officially signed in the Autumn of 2018.
