Copenhagen, 16/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 14/15 October he Danish Presidency is hoping that it will be possible to get political agreement over the draft framework decision on combatting drugs, announced Lene Espersen after the meeting of the EU's Justice ministers in Copenhagen on Saturday morning, where the fight against drugs was raised. During their very general discussion on combatting drugs, the ministers made little mention of the framework decision but the Danish minister discussed it with the Dutch justice minister JP Donner.
The framework decision sets out a common definition of drugs trafficking and a degree of harmonisation of penalties with a common range of sentences (from one to three years, from three to five years, etc) for certain crimes. At the previous JHA Council (in June), adoption of the framework decision foundered on the issue of the severity of sentencing for possessing small quantities of soft drugs (see Europe of 14 June, p.10).
Fourteen Member States agreed on a single scale, but the Netherlands requested authorisation to issue more lenient sentences, which a few other Member States refused to grants. There has been no change since them. European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino pointed out that EU powers in terms of drug use were "virtually non-existent", that disagreements existed that had to be lived with, but they were trying to ensure that combatting drugs (the objective of the framework decision) was not undermined by the disagreements. At a press conference following the meeting, Lene Espersen also stressed that the EU's objective was not overall harmonisation of national drugs policies, but it was necessary to ensure that the national policies were compatible with one another and that the policy implemented in one country did not hinder the policies of the other Member States.
On Saturday, ministers' discussions focussed on the mid-term review of the 2000-2004 EU action plan for combatting drugs. The Commission is expected to unveil the review in the form of a Communication at the beginning of November, ahead of the European Council in Copenhagen expressing its views on progress to date and action to be taken.
Ministers all agreed that they should actually cooperate in practice and set exact dates for adopting measures, but did not decide on anything specific.
Lene Espersen said the ministers had pledged to act more forcefully and clearly, with precise dates, cooperating with all stakeholders, particularly Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
She stressed the danger of laboratory drugs produced, moreover, within the European Union. At the meeting, British minister David Blunkett explained that 90% of the heroin sold in the UK came from Afghanistan, while the Spanish and German ministers spokes of drug imports from Latin America.