BRUSSELS — The European Commission is set to publish a package of measures in December to further clamp down on the flow and production of street drugs in the EU, as drug-related violence in countries like Belgium or the Netherlands surges.New rules on the precursor chemicals used to manufacture drugs, an EU Drugs Strategy, and a European action plan against drug trafficking are scheduled to land Dec. 3, according to the latest Commission agenda released Monday.“Both the new strategy on drugs and the new legislation on precursors are in preparation,” the EU Drugs Agency told POLITICO in a statement. The Commission’s home affairs department is leading the new drug strategy and trafficking plan, while its tax department is delivering the proposal on drug precursors, EUDA said.
The current drugs strategy has guided the EU’s priorities in the area since 2021 but it will expire this year. The new strategy — and accompanying action plan — will define how Europe should tackle this escalating crisis from 2026 to 2030.
Europe is grappling with a surge in availability of cocaine, synthetic stimulants and potent opioids, alongside increasingly complex trafficking networks and rising drug-related violence, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands. The ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp serve as a gateway for illegal narcotics to enter Europe.
Criminals within Europe are is increasingly manufacturing their own synthetic drugs using precursor chemicals, while seizures of trafficked drugs have also been soaring.
The EU Drugs Agency reported that in 2023, EU member countries recorded a record-high amount of cocaine seized for the seventh year in a row. While seizures of precursor chemicals have more than tripled in the several years preceding 2023.
In the wake of Europe’s cocaine market more than quadrupling between 2011 and 2021, the Commission in 2023 proposed a plan to combat drug trafficking, which includes strengthening cooperation with Latin American countries, establishing a network of specialized prosecutors and judges, and investing additional funds in upgrading customs equipment.
Across the Atlantic, the U.S. has been struggling with fentanyl, a synthetic drug estimated to be 50 times stronger than heroin. The U.S. has imposed tariffs, especially on Chinese goods tied to fentanyl precursor chemicals, as a trade pressure tool to curb their flow into the country.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in 2023 that Europe will soon have to deal with the same problem.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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