On 5 – 9 July 2010, Poland hosted CEPOL course “Police Authorities of the Candidate Countries” in Krakow. The aim of the course was to enhance knowledge about the main European institutions and agencies, JHA cooperation in the EU and its decision making process, law enforcement services, cross border cooperation, educational police training systems and the financial instruments available to candidate countries. Fifteen participants from Croatia and Turkey attended the course.
The course started with a presentation by David Reisenzein, Frontex, which described the structure, goals and tasks of said EU agency. Shortly after, Dr. Artur Barcik, University of Silesia in Katowice, presented European institutions such as Parliament, the Council, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, the Commission and cooperation in the fields of Justice and Home Affairs after the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty.
Day two of the course was dedicated to the subject of border control. Marcin Dró?d?, Polish National Border Guard, gave a presentation about Schengen acquis and SIS - Eurodac – VIS. Miroslaw Kumanek, Polish National Police, talked about the role of Europol in cooperation with candidate countries whilst Olia Mihaylova, Bulgaria, shared Bulgarian experiences and best practice in the field of operational police cooperation during and after her countries accession to the European Union.
During day three of the course the topic of police training systems in Europe and Poland was presented by Krzysztof ?agoda. Irmina Adamska, Deputy Director of Bureau of International Police Cooperation of the National Police Headquarters, introduced financial instruments for pre-accession assistance and also spoke about twinning projects.
On the last day Andrei Linta, European Affairs Unit of the Romanian Police, spoke about European police cooperation. Discussions amongst participants mainly focused on the advantages and disadvantages of joining the EU.
The Police School in Katowice that hosted the course would like to thank Bulgaria and Romania for their precious assistance.
