activities

The Salzburg Forum provides a platform for the discussion of political, strategic and operational issues with a view to coordinating and steadily enhancing cooperation amongst Central European national authorities in the area of internal security.

Political cooperation

The Ministerial Conferences of the Salzburg Forum usually take place every six months, chaired by the acting Presidency of the Salzburg Forum. In addition to the two ministerial conferences per year, Austria sometimes organises additional ministerial meetings – usually during the summer – for the discussion of recent developments, challenges and joint actions in the area of internal security. Furthermore, the Salzburg Forum Presidencies organise ad-hoc meetings, particularly in the margins of EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings. This political dialogue between the Ministers of the Salzburg Forum helps to define common positions within the European Union and enables SF member states to actively participate in EU decision-making. The Salzburg Forum supports EU Presidencies of the region – e.g. Austria (2006), the Czech Republic (2009) and Hungary (2011) – in lobbying for joint initiatives. Furthermore, it promotes bilateral, multilateral and regional initiatives within the Salzburg Forum.

Strategic cooperation

In order to prepare ministerial conferences and discuss strategic objectives of the Salzburg Forum, senior officials meet on a regular basis. These meetings usually take place in the run-up to ministerial conferences. Furthermore, home affairs counsellors at the permanent representations of the Salzburg Forum countries to the European Union meet in Brussels on a regular basis to discuss ongoing EU work and possible joint activities on the EU level.

Operational cooperation

On an operational level, regional cooperation within the Salzburg Forum ranges from high-level meetings of police chiefs to meetings and workshops of experts in various fields, e.g. traffic police, DNA data exchange, major events, document security, measures to combat drug trafficking and others. Furthermore, the Salzburg Forum partners exchange knowledge and expertise, organise joint training programmes, joint operations, patrols and equipment pools, and engage in joint prevention and public relations work. Several Joint Police Cooperation Centres (bilateral and multilateral) support this operational cooperation within the Salzburg Forum.