Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-18-Speech-4-279"
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"en.19991118.15.4-279"2
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"Mr President, it has to be said, the European Parliament has been divided over the drugs policy for years. By and large, there are three shades of opinion discernible in this House. Firstly, the followers of the Swedish model which, apart from treating drug addicts, emphasises the control of narcotics. Secondly, there are the followers of the Dutch model, which tends more towards the treatment of drug addicts than control. The Dutch model which allows drug shops, which in the Netherlands are given the unfortunate English term “coffee shops”, presupposes a division between soft drugs, namely marihuana, and hard drugs, such as heroin and ecstasy.
These two groups, the followers of the Swedish model and those of the Dutch model, do not want too much European cooperation in this field because they fear that their national policy might be affected. Alongside these two groups, there is a third trend represented in this Parliament, namely those who do advocate more extensive and intensive European cooperation in the drugs policy, so that the various approaches which I have described above can grow towards each other. This means that countries like France and Germany should do more to treat their drug addicts but that a country like the Netherlands, for example, should focus on controlling the drugs nuisance created by the “coffee shops” and on drugs tourism.
These three trends are also represented in the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party. I am therefore pleased to say that most of my group colleagues can vote in favour of Mrs Giannakou’s report. We find it an interesting report which fortunately disregards the issue of legalising narcotics and looks at the measures to be taken by the European Union.
On 6 November last, the President of the Commission, Mr Prodi, advocated stronger European cooperation in the field of drug control. He did this further to reports of Italian youngsters using ecstasy which largely originated from my country, the Netherlands. Mr Prodi’s remarks caused a huge commotion in the Netherlands. I personally agree with Mr Prodi. If the European Union is intent on dealing with transnational crime forcefully, then this should also include the control of drug trafficking. In fact, that is Europol’s first task. Ecstasy is a hard drug which is lethal, as recent events in Italy have shown.
Those supporting the legalisation of soft drugs should also be open to European cooperation. Indeed, a Member State could not legalise drugs on its own, this could only be done at European level."@en1
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