In an effort to combat organized crime in the region, representatives from several Western Balkan states have pledged to work together on policing and prosecution, according to the Serbian news outlet Tanjug. 

At a conference in Belgrade, Ministers of Justice and the Interior from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia planned regional cooperation against organized crime groups. 

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, who has himself been accused of involvement in organized crime, stressed the need to establish a regional arrest warant, similar to Europol's. He also proposed that the region form joint investigation teams to facilitate ther exchange of information and evidence. 

"The fight against corruption and crime will remain among the most important priorities of the government of Serbia and the state authorities," Dacic said, according to the English translation portal Sina English, which also reported that the politicians all signed a letter of intent to ratify a convention allowing cross-border enforcement of criminal judgments. 

In recent years, cross-border organized crime has begun displacing domestic criminal groups, OCCRP's Executive Director Paul Radu explained at a European Parliament conference on April 10. 

"Whenever you have a transnational organized crime group, this group moves very fast," Radu said. "And for law enforcement it's hard to keep up with these movements, with these very flexible structures, because the change of information across official networks is sometimes not working very well."

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