Bulgaria and the U.S. Sign a New Extradition Treaty

September 19, 2007

Today, Ambassador John Beyrle and Minister of Justice Miglena Tacheva signed two legal instruments to significantly modernize our law enforcement relationship with Bulgaria: a new bilateral treaty on extradition, and a new Treaty between the U.S. and Bulgaria on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The Extradition Treaty replaces the outdated 1924 extradition treaty and 1934 supplementary treaty currently in force.

These instruments will enable our police and prosecutors to cooperate more effectively to bring criminals to justice, and in particular better to combat international terrorism. Both instruments are part of a sequence of bilateral agreements that the United States is in the process of concluding with all twenty-seven European Union member states, in order to implement twin agreements on extradition and mutual legal assistance signed with the European Union itself in 2003. Bulgaria will be the twenty-seventh EU member to sign these implementing agreements with the U.S.