The director of Europol, Max-Peter Ratzel, has arrived in Bulgaria for a meeting with Interior Minister Mihail Mihov and the deputy PM in charge of European Union funds, Meglena Plugchieva, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reports.

Europol is the European Law Enforcement Organisation designed to improve effectiveness and co-operation of competent authorities in individual states to tackle terrorism, drug trafficking and other forms of organised crime such as bank card fraud, corruption, tobacco smuggling and embezzlement.

Ratzel will hold a meeting on Friday January 20 with Meglena Plugchieva. The two officials apparently agree that Bulgaria still needs to address serious problems concerning organised crime and institutionalised corruption, hence the need for closer co-operation with Europol.  

The Europol director has concluded that Bulgaria is moving in the right direction. However, the latest EC report on the Bulgarian judicial system and internal affairs still notes many problems, the BNR reports.

Also scheduled is a meeting between Ratzel and Bulgaria's Interior Minister Mihail Mikov to discuss strategies for combating organised crime and terrorism.  

Ratzel will also meet Pavlin Dimitrov, the general commissioner of the Interior Ministry. Ratzel is a German law enforcement officer, and has been the Director of Europol since April 2005. The establishment of Europol was agreed in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, officially known as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) that came into effect in November 1993.

The agency started limited operations on January 3 1994, as the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU). However by 1998 the Europol Convention was ratified by all member states and came into force in October. Europol commenced full activities on July 1 1999.

As of 2007, Europol covers all 27 member states of the European Union. It also co-operates with a number of third world countries and government and non-governmental organisations.