EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel is paying an official visit to Europol today where he will discuss with Director Rob Wainwright opportunities for further cooperation between the two agencies.
The agencies signed their first ‘Cooperation agreement’ in 2001, building on already strong links forged in the area of new synthetic drugs from 1997. Since then, the two bodies have strengthened their commitment through a series of agreements and collaborative activities in order to produce state-of-the-art analyses of the European drug market and its impact (see links opposite).
Speaking in The Hague, Alexis Goosdeel said: ‘For the past 15 years, the EMCDDA and Europol have been working closely together, pooling expertise and insight to contribute to a safer and a more secure Europe. By combining a holistic overview of the drug situation with strategic intelligence on trends in organised crime, we have delivered crucial analyses, such as the EU Drug Markets Report, informing policy and facilitating action at EU and national level. We collaborate on a daily basis, monitoring potentially threatening new psychoactive substances, in doing so helping to reduce harm and save lives. We will continue to work together in the area of security, producing threat assessments and using data-collection tools that help us separate important signals from the ever-present noise’.
Commenting on the challenges for law enforcement posed by drug-related crime, Europol Director Rob Wainwright said: ‘The cooperation between Europol and the EMCDDA has proved to be exemplary, in particular in combatting illicit drug markets in the EU. Illicit drugs are one of the major threats to the health and security of EU citizens, with up to two million problem drug users. This strong collaboration demonstrates what Justice and Home Affairs agencies can achieve together when trusted relationships are established.’
The EMCDDA will be chairing the EU Justice and Home Affairs agencies’ network in 2017 and will focus on internet-related topics such as drug supply on the darknet.
For more on today’s visit, see https://www.europol.europa.eu/content/europol-and-emcdda-excellent-cooperation-combat-illicit-drug-markets-eu
JHA agencies: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/html.cfm/index229337EN.html
