Brussels, 16/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the end of next month, the European Commission will present a proposal for a framework decision to establish minimum rules for penal infringements and sanctions applied in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking, announced Commissioner Antonio Vitorino during an open debate on drugs, held on Thursday by the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of the Fifteen. The proposal, that the Commissioner hopes to see adopted by the end of the year, will be based on a study on the legislative provisions on drugs trafficking in Member States. The study compares the rules applied for the definition of drugs trafficking in the different Member States, as well as the penal sanctions for the different kinds of trafficking, eventual tolerance for the possession of a small quantity of drugs, the distinction between dealing and the occasional sale, the fate of drug addicts who sell drugs, and the medical alternatives to sanctions … EUROPE will come back to this.
The need to act in a coordinated manner - mainly through the ratification of the convention on judicial cooperation in penal matters, the gravity of the situation, and the importance of collaborating with the candidate countries are all themes which have been developed by most of those taking the floor. Priorities underlined by the ministers were not however always the same (the EU's external borders for Germany, the need for extremely severe punishment for the United Kingdom, the distinction between the different kinds of drugs for the Netherlands, and the refusal to harmonise penal law also for the Netherlands …).
In opening the debate, the Council President and Swedish Justice Minister, Thomas Bodström, felt that the situation was "serious" if not to say "alarming", mainly for designer drugs, and calls for rapid adoption of measures that balance the "actions for reducing demand, the support given to addicts and the fight against trafficking". There are actions, with Europol, discussions on the creation of Eurojust, and the evaluation by the Commission of measures taken by the Member States for fighting the drugs situation, he stressed, "and yet the situation has grown dramatically worse over recent years".
The Swedish minister also declared that "the majority of experts consider that the situation in candidate countries is of concern, be they producer countries or countries of transit". The Union must help them, he added. Also placing emphasis on aid to provide applicant countries with, Mr. Vitorino called on Member States to rapidly approve mandates enabling these countries to participate in the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs before their accession. The Commissioner also stressed the importance of assessing the measures already taken, especially in application of the EU's 2000-2004 action plan to combat drugs.
During its Presidency, Belgium will direct debates further towards aligned incrimination. Italy "shares the strategy proposed to align national legislation in the framework of the fight against drugs", which is "difficult because there are many differences", its representative underpinned. The Danish delegation, for its part, warned against the risk of "losing sight of the whole", and the need for concrete action. Spain called for special attention to be paid to Member States which , like Spain, suffer "strong pressure from trafficking", as well as for increased cooperation with Morocco and the Andean countries. The Netherlands opposed an alignment of criminal law and did not rule out aligning certain practices. The Austrian and British representatives called for an "implacable fight against all those who earn money through trafficking".
Two synthetic drugs studied and controlled
At the same time as the appeal by most ministers to combat synthetic drugs, the Council instructed the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction and Europol to assess the risks and better understand the use and crime linked to two of these types of drugs, GHB and Ketamine. The Fifteen want to know more about these two anesthetics, when used as drugs. They also call for closer cooperation with the chemical industry on the drawing up of mechanisms that could limit the misappropriation of these products.