Alarm at spread of illicit drugs prompts push to protect the vulnerable, dismantle criminal gangs, and tighten checks at ports.
Every city in the European Union should establish a task-force focused on helping people at risk of drug addiction and criminal gangs, the European Committee of the Regions urged on 20 June, in a set of recommendations prompted by the EU's concern at the proliferation of illicit drugs in European cities and regions.
In their recommendations, adopted at a
plenary session of the political assembly, members of the CoR also called on local authorities – with additional financing to be provided where necessary – to put in place adequate policing, lighting and surveillance systems to help counter what it described as a "proliferation of zones of lawlessness linked to the retail drug trade across European cities".
The rapporteur,
Matteo Luigi Bianchi (IT/ECR), member of Varese Local Assembly, emphasised that local and regional authorities need to be involved in order to increase the chances of prevention, reduce harm, and improve public health. Health measures proposed include mental-health training for teachers and local police officers, and support for families affected.
The opinion highlighted efforts that can be made at the local level to break up criminal networks that recruit and exploit adolescents and the vulnerable, measures to counter criminal infiltration into local business communities, and steps to increase social inclusion. Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden are recognised as having good projects and legislation that could inspire similar action in other countries to prevent children and young people being pulled into crime. In efforts targeting business's complicity with drug-traffickers, the opinion suggests that Italy could be emulated, as it has "well-established frameworks in which local authorities are authorised to use administrative tools to prevent criminal infiltration into legal companies and administrative infrastructure".
While the CoR's recommendations focus on local actions, the opinion also backed the EU's wider agenda to break up international criminal networks, increase international counter-narcotics cooperation, and tighten checks at logistical centres, including ports across the EU.
The roadmap includes a European Ports Alliance, established in January 2024, in which port and airport authorities, law-enforcement agencies, shipping companies, and terminal operators are working together with national governments and EU institutions to strengthen security at all EU ports. In ports and airports with customs zones for goods arriving in the EU, local and regional authorities may join the Alliance.
Speaking at the CoR's plenary, Andrei Lință, Deputy Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), said that the agency has recently identified 821 particularly threatening criminal networks active in the EU. He said that the gangs, which have an estimated 25,000 members, are "agile, borderless, controlling and destructive", "very quick to adapt to changes and to law enforcement actions", "systematically exploit legal business structures", and "rely on corruption and extreme violence".
Quotes:
- Matteo Luigi Bianchi (IT/ECR), member of Varese Local Assembly: "We need to unite in the fight against drug trafficking and drug-related violence. Prevention should be prioritised through information and awareness-raising campaigns in schools. Offering sport, leisure, and cultural opportunities, particularly for vulnerable minors, can minimise the risk of their involvement in drug abuse and drug-related criminal activities. Establishing local platforms for regular information sharing, providing support and treatment for families affected by drugs are crucial. As local and regional politicians, we can also strengthen the resilience of logistics hubs based in our territories, which are often the main entry points for illicit substances that end up in our streets."
- Andrei Lință, Deputy Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol): "Europol directly supports 11 out of the 17 actions foreseen in the roadmap [to fight drug-trafficking and organised crime]. Local and regional authorities have an important role to play in supporting the implementation of these actions and, more generally, the fight against criminal networks. Local authorities also have a key role to play in building the resilience of the logistical hubs, notably by taking part in public-private partnerships such as the European Ports Alliance and engaging in the exchange of strategic information on risks and needs of the public authorities, on best practices for background and screening checks, but also on the relevant tools used at local level, such as the tools to facilitate anonymous reporting. Finally, local and regional authorities hold a crucial and central position in reinforcing EU's prevention effort, particularly in preventing the recruitment of children and young people by criminal networks."