EU POLICE ASSISTANCE TEAM (EUPAT) IN MACEDONIA
Letter from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, Minister
for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Chairman
I am writing to let your committee know of the
successful completion of the mandate of EUPAT in Macedonia culminating
in the handover of police development and reform activities to
a field monitoring team under the European Commission Community
Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS)
programme.
Throughout its mandate of six months EUPAT continued
to support the development of a professional police service, focusing
its activities on sustainability of EUPOL Proxima achievements
through monitoring and mentoring the country's police on priority
issues in the field of Border Police, Public Peace and Order and
Accountability, and the fight against corruption and Organised
Crime. EUPAT focussed on middle and senior management and special
attention was paid to three key areas.
1. The Sector for Internal Control and
Professional Standards—an increase in initiative and
proactivity in the launch of investigations and increased confidence
of the public and other organisations in the Sector was noted.
2. Co-operation between police and other
law enforcement agencies—there are positive indications
that this is increasing, particularly between agencies such as
the Uniformed Police and Crime Investigation Department and Border
Police who have followed the advice given by EUPAT and its predecessor
EUPOL Proxima to hold regular inter-agency co-ordination meetings.
EUPAT further recommends that these inter-agency meetings become
mandatory. Positive progress was also noted by EUPAT's Law Enforcement
Monitors in the Organised Crime Unit of Public Prosecutors which
has performed well when involved in a number of high profile investigations
and prosecutions.
3. Police comprehensive reform—Progress
in areas such as decentralisation and the restructuring of the
Territorial Police Services was slower than expected, due to delays
in the adoption of the Law on Police. In response to this EUPAT
has produced detailed recommendations on the areas that will need
continued support from the field monitoring team, particularly
that the team maintains a significant presence at the Ministry
of Interior level and takes a two pronged approach to supporting
police in the decentralisation process. High level commanders
need to be mentored and advised on how to relinquish their powers
to the appropriate level and local police will need support in
dealing with the added responsibility as these powers are delegated.
The EUSR's Office has supported and co-ordinated the transition
from EUPAT to the field monitoring team.
As intended EUPAT has provided a monitoring
presence bridging the gap between EUPOL Proxima and the CARDS
field monitoring team, sustaining the progress made thus far and
allowing for continued progress in the interim. The field monitoring
team will be given valuable head start thanks to the provision
of a comprehensive dossier put together by EUPAT in order to facilitate
knowledge transfer between the two teams.
28 June 2006
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