Bosnia’s Security Minister insisted on the deployment of EU police forces on Bosnia’s eastern border, towards Serbia, and Montenegro to prevent further illegal migrant crossings into Bosnia.

During the meeting between Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate for Migration and Internal Affairs Simor Mordue and Bosnia’s Dragan Mektic, the two spoke of the cooperation between the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and Bosnia, considering that negotiations on the draft agreement on future relations and cooperation are still ongoing.

Mektic stressed the importance of establishing operative cooperation between Bosnia and the European police (EUROPOL) adding that this process is still ongoing due to various political interests and obstructions in the country.

He also pointed out that he expects the European Delegation to help Bosnia in getting the necessary equipment for the rooms of the national contact point for cooperation with EUROPOL so that it could start working and exchanging operative data as soon as possible.

Earlier, the Republika Srpska entity, one of two semi-autonomous entities in Bosnia, said that the contact point cannot be seated in the state Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies because this institution cannot perform investigative operations from EUROPOL’s mandate, nor does it have access to information needed for the cooperation with the EUROPOL.

The RS Ministry said the best location for the contact point would be the Security Ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina.