RECOMMENDATION on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Croatia on the participation of the Republic of Croatia in the work of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

4.5.2011 - (11633/2010 – C7‑0026/2011 – 2010/0011(NLE)) - ***

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Rapporteur: Debora Serracchiani

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Croatia on the participation of the Republic of Croatia in the work of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

(11633/2010 – C7‑0026/2011 – 2010/0011(NLE))

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the draft Council decision (11633/2010),

–   having regard to the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Croatia on the participation of the Republic of Croatia in the work of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (11633/2010),

–   having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article 168(5) and Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C7‑0026/2011),

–   having regard to Rules 81 and 90(8) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0186/2011),

1.  Consents to conclusion of the agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Republic of Croatia.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Introduction

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), which is located in Lisbon, was established by Council Regulation (EEC) n. 302/93 of 8 February 1993. Its main task is to collect data on drugs and drug addiction in order to prepare and publish information at European level objective, reliable and comparable. The information is intended to provide a basis for analysing the demand for drugs and ways of reducing it, as well as, in general, phenomena associated with the drug market

The Regulation (EC) n. 1920/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council (recast) of the 12 December 2006 on the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and drug Addiction provides, in Article 21, that the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction shall be open to the participation of any third country that shares the interests of the Union and its Member States in its objectives and work.

The Republic of Croatia has asked to participate to the activities of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in 2005.

On 11 July 2006 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the Republic of Croatia and the negotiations with the Republic of Croatia were positively concluded in July 2009 with the initialling of the Agreement. The agreement has been reviewed in order to take into account the entry in force of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union and initialled by both parties on 22 December 2009.

The Republic of Croatia will take part in the Centre’s work programme, will satisfy the obligations of the Regulation n. 1920/2006, will be linked to the European Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addiction (REITOX) and will share data with the EMCDDA, subject to the data protection requirements of the Union and national laws. The Republic of Croatia will also contribute financially to the Union to cover the cost of its participation and will also participate in the Management Board of the Centre without the right to vote until such time as it becomes a member of the European Union. For its part, the EMCDDA will treat the Republic of Croatia as an existing Member State, through equal treatment in terms of linkage to the European Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addiction (REITOX) and staffing provisions.

Situation in Croatia

The Republic of Croatia is a transit route through which illicit drugs are smuggled on the way from the production countries to consumer countries. Significant and large scale cocaine seizures in Croatia are mostly connected with sea transport.

According to EMCDDA, in Croatia, no general population survey on illicit drug use has been carried out.

In the last 10 years the number of deaths is gradually increasing in Croatia. The latest drug-related deaths data are for 2008 where a total of 87 cases were registered and 91.9 % of these involved males. A majority of the cases (77.1 %) of deaths were associated with opiates. Also in 2008, the total number of reported drug related offences was 7 168. Cannabis was related to 58 % of the offences, followed by 27 % for heroin, 8 % for amphetamine and 5 % for cocaine related offences.   In 2009, a total of 7,934 persons have been treated by the national drug addiction institutes. From 2010 on, as one of the measures to upgrade their standards, every therapeutic community has to provide data on treated patients to the Office for Drugs.

As regards to drug seizures, in 2008, there was a total of 2 827 herbal cannabis seizures, a total of 485 cannabis resin seizures, 634 of heroin, 233 of cocaine, 69 of ecstasy and 448 of amphetamine seizures.

The number of seizures decreases for all drugs except for heroin when compared to the previous year and, in general, progress has been made in combating drug abuse. In fact, last year, the Republic of Croatia has adopted the 2010 programme for implementation of the Action Plan on Combating Drugs Abuse. An amendment to the Drug Abuse Prevention aligned the list of precursors with the EU acquis and shortened the time limits for destroying seized drugs.

Training of police officers and provision of the necessary equipment have continued. However, the results in investigation and prosecution of drug related crime need to be considerably enhanced. Croatia remains on one of the main trafficking routes for drugs to the EU.

The government has adopted a National Programme for Prevention of Drugs amongst Youth with a view to updating the existing programmes.

Advantages

The draftswoman welcomes this agreement and the participation of the Republic of Croatia at the activities of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction considering also the fact that the entry of the Republic of Croatia into the European Union is foreseen for the time being for the second half of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. Illicit drug use and trafficking are worldwide phenomena that threaten health and social stability. Statistics show that around one in three young Europeans has tried an illicit drug and at least one of our citizens dies every hour from a drug overdose.

At a European level, it is also important to have factual and objective information from Croatia concerning drugs and drug addiction and their consequences and, at the same time, the Republic of Croatia can get information on best practices to understand the nature of its drug problems and better respond to them.

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

Date adopted	2.5.2011
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	33 2 0
Members present for the final vote	Jan Philipp Albrecht, Emine Bozkurt, Philip Claeys, Carlos Coelho, Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Kinga Gál, Kinga Göncz, Nathalie Griesbeck, Anna Hedh, Sophia in ‘t Veld, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Monica Luisa Macovei, Véronique Mathieu, Louis Michel, Claude Moraes, Jan Mulder, Georgios Papanikolaou, Birgit Sippel, Csaba Sógor, Wim van de Camp, Daniël van der Stoep, Renate Weber, Tatjana Ždanoka
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Elena Oana Antonescu, Edit Bauer, Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, Ioan Enciu, Stanimir Ilchev, Franziska Keller, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Mariya Nedelcheva, Cecilia Wikström
Substitute(s) under Rule 187(2) present for the final vote	Andrey Kovatchev, Traian Ungureanu, Pablo Zalba Bidegain