27.05.2010, 14:59

3rd Meeting of the Expert Working Group - Sofia


The third meeting of the Expert Working Group, organised under the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office, took place on 19 May 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Representatives from all eight Contracting Parties to the Convention as well as representatives from Austria, Switzerland, EUROPOL, CEPOL, PCC SEE Secretariat and SECI Center attended the meeting.
The meeting was initially planned to take place on 19-20 April 2010 in Slovenia, however due to the closed airspace during that period a decision was made to postpone it. Due to cancellation of the meeting in April and in order to avoid any uneccessary delay in the full application of the Convention, the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office executed its right (according to the Committee of Ministers Rules of Procedure - CoM 02/09), to start a written procedure on:
1. The Decision on the Endorsement of the Strategy Paper Regarding the Conduct of Harmonised Training on Convention Related Matters;
2. The Decision on Changing the Term "Standardised Training" to "Harmonised Training";
3. The Decision on the Establishment of a Thematic Working Group on Police Education and Training within the Convention and
4. The Agenda for the Meeting of the Committee of Ministers.

The silent (written) procedure began on 23 April 2010 and ended on 7 May 2010. No explicit objections to the proposed documents were sent within the two week period. The three decisions were signed at the meeting on 19 May 2010 by Ms. Snezhina Marinova, Chair of the Expert Working Group, and Mr. Anton Travner, Head of PCC SEE Secretariat.

In addition to the signing of the afore mentioned decisions, the meeting also served as an opportunity to discuss the various topics on the agenda that did not undergo the silent procedure. Various reports on the progress of the implementation process were presented by the Contracting Parties, which overall highlighted the state of play in the region.

For further information on the documents and the agenda of the meeting please see section Documents/Expert Working Group/3rd EWG, Sofia, 19 May 2010.



Chaired by Albania from 01 July to 31 December 2024 / Next Chairmanship (1 January - 30 June 2025) by Austria