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BRUSSELS – The development of a new European Union (EU) strategy to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, which includes cooperation with third countries, was discussed by the European Commissioner for Justice Michael McGrath and the Bulgarian Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev, the Ministry of Justice reported.
Georgiev took part in the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, Justice section, in Brussels.
Drug trafficking is expected to remain a primary threat in the coming years as well, and the fight against it to be among the central priorities of the new Protect EU Internal Security Strategy, the ministry’s statement says.
The new trend of hiring minors to commit crimes, given the fact that they do not bear criminal responsibility, was one of the topics we discussed, Minister Georgiev pointed out. In his words, the modernization of the law should adequately respond to the new trends in the commission of crimes.
Organized crime, driven by the huge profits from drugs and especially by record quantities of cocaine from South America, is increasingly using violence, corruption, infiltration into the legal economy and the recruitment of minors and underage persons. This undermines the rule of law and threatens the foundations of our democracies – this was the common position of the justice ministers of the EU member states at the Council meeting.
In the European Internal Security Strategy – ProtectEU aims to define a new European governance of internal security, to anticipate security threats through new ways of exchanging intelligence information, as well as to introduce more effective law enforcement tools, according to the website of the European Commission (EC). Among its other goals are building resilience against hybrid threats, combating serious and organized crime, terrorism and violent extremism. (12/9/2025)