NEW SURVEILLANCE EQUIPMENT FOR BULGARIA'S BORDER POLICE
The Bulgarian government is to set up a professional border police force with modern electronic surveillance equipment within two years, a report from BTA, the state-owned Bulgarian News Agency, says. Parts of the agency report read as if they were intended mainly to convince western governments of Bulgarian "EU maturity".
Bulgarian Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev said his Ministry will concentrate all its investments in 2001 and 2002 on setting up the new force, because of its leading role in the implementation of an "intergovernmental programme to combat illegal migration". Nine Bulgarian Ministries are involved in the programme. Their work is coordinated by an "Interdepartmental Council on Border Crossing Problems", chaired by a senior military officer and Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry.
Setting up a border management system meeting EU criteria is a top priority for Bulgaria which is seeking EU membership.
At present, some 5,000 military conscripts are still assigned to the National Border Police Service (NBPS), but by 2002 the force is to be completely demilitarised and professionalised.
According to an NBPS spokeswomen, border police officers are being "trained up to European standards" and NBPS duties and structures are "synchronized with the leading European border control services".
According to the BTA report, a 3 million Euro PHARE programme has been approved by the EU for the establishment of a NBPS personnel training centre. Information is exchanged with Germany and Hungary on "specific groups and persons involved in people smuggling" and an agreement on cooperation has been signed with the Vienna-based International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
Bulgaria has signed readmission agreements with twenty countries, including most EU Member States.
Bulgarian authorities stress that cooperation with Germany and Austria is particularly close.
As regards modern means of surveillance and control, Bulgaria is setting up an integrated electronic data base that will interface all border control services, and computerised finger-print identification is being introduced to facilitate the quick detection of "illegal immigrants".
The NBPS already uses equipment for the detection of false ID-documents (a German donation), carbon dioxide detectors and the Photophon system for the inspection of foreign travel documents (a Greek donation).
Mobile systems for border observation have been deployed, along with new radar systems to monitor the country's maritime border and the Danube.
Moreover, GPS (Global Satellite Positioning) systems are to be deployed along the border with Greece.
According to government statistics, more than 8,000 aliens tried to cross the Bulgarian border illegally last year. 42 percent were bound for destinations in Western Europe. In 1998, Turkish nationals, Romanians, Macedonians, Ukrainians and Yugoslavs formed the bulk of illegal immigrants apprehended by the Border police.
Police cooperation with Turkey
Bulgarian efforts to adapt to EU standards on border controls should also be seen in the light of a parallel initiative by the country's Interior Minister Bonev, aiming at closer cooperation among Balkan countries and Turkey in "the fight against crime".
During a visit in Ankara, Interior Minister Bonev proposed to his Turkish counterpart, Saadettin Tantan, that the Balkan countries and Turkey hold a meeting to discuss cooperation in the fight against crime. The Bulgarian initiative was welcomed by the Turkish Interior Minister.
The two Ministers also discussed the opportunities for exchange of information, including through the two countries' computerised fingerprint systems, in fighting against organised crime, smuggling and drugs trafficking. Bonev and Tantan agreed that speeding up the exchange of liaison officers will contribute to making police cooperation between the two countries more effective.
Sources: BTA (Bulgarian News Agency), Sofia, 9.12.99, Ankara, 7.12.99.