Members of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) will visit the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) on 18 and 19 July where they will meet Director Wolfgang Götz and staff and hear why a sound evidence base is essential for effective policymaking and action in the drugs field.
The visiting delegation will be composed of LIBE members Ioan Enciu (Romania, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) as well as Marco Scurria (Italy) and Carlos Coelho (Portugal), both of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats). Accompanying the LIBE delegates will be Barbara Dürhkop Dürhkop (Spain) and Carla Rossi (Italy), members of the EMCDDA Management Board designated by the European Parliament. João Goulão, Chairman of the EMCDDA Management Board, will also attend.
During the visit, the members will be presented with the findings of the 2013 European Drug Report and with updates on the agency’s work in the areas of: new drugs; monitoring supply and supply reduction; best practice and international cooperation.
The EMCDDA has close working relationships with the European Parliament, mainly through the LIBE Committee, for content-related aspects, and through the Committees on Budgets (COBU) and Budgetary Control (CONT), for budgetary matters. The LIBE Committee is responsible for most of the legislation and democratic oversight for policies linked to the transformation of the European Union in the area of freedom, security and justice. Every year, the agency presents its European Drug Report, General Report of Activities and work programme to the European Parliament at the LIBE Committee meeting.
This week’s visit will also include discussions on: cooperation between the EMCDDA and the European Parliament; the implementation of a joint statement of the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and European Commission on decentralised agencies (2012); and cooperation between EU agencies active in the area of justice and home affairs (in particular CEPOL, EMCDDA, Eurojust, Europol, FRA and Frontex).
