Members of the European Parliament adopted during the session in Strasbourg the Report on cooperation in the fight against organized crime in the Western Balkans. The MPs called on governments in the region to significantly increase their efforts and continue reforms in the area of the rule of law and the fight against corruption and organized crime. According to the MEP, the EU should support these efforts through financial assistance and practical cooperation.
Reporter Lukas Mandl said, as reported by RTCG, that organized crime is a major obstacle to the efforts of societies in the Western Balkans to develop their countries and economies.
"The EU must not use organized crime as an excuse for postponing the enlargement process, but should stand with the people of the Western Balkans in their fight against organized crime," said Mandl.
The main factors that make Western Balkan societies vulnerable, the report states, are lack of employment opportunities, corruption, misinformation, elements of state capture, inequality and foreign interference from undemocratic regimes such as Russia and China.
The MPs point out the lack of true political will in the fight against organized crime and "aware of the reports and accusations about the links between high-ranking political figures and organized criminal groups", stress the need to eradicate political and administrative links with organized crime through clear measures to protect against corruption and effectively prosecution of high-profile corruption cases.
The European MPs also condemn the "obvious lack of will of the competent authorities in the region to open the former Yugoslav archives and to return the files to the governments if they wish". They also state that the connections between organized crime, politics and business existed even before the breakup of Yugoslavia and have continued since the end of the conflict in the 1990s.
They emphasize that the fight against organized crime and EU integration are mutually reinforcing processes, calling on the EU to speed up the integration process. In this context, since isolation encourages criminal activities, members of the European Parliament called on the Council to approve visa liberalization for Kosovo without further delay.
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