Date: 23 february 2010 from 10 – 16 hs
Place: European Parliament, Brussels, Room A1E-3
The hearing was organised in collaboration with Member of European Parliament Michail Tremopoulos of Greece (GREENS/EFA).
READ THE CONCLUSIONS AND THE PRESS RELEASE OF THE HEARING
Why do we organise this hearing?
In March 2009, the European Commission presented the “[Report on Global
Illicit Drug Markets 1998 – 2007->article1696]” (the Reuter-Trautmann report). This
report contains a valuable database and conclusions that confirm those
of other evaluation reports on drug policies in the EU of past years.
These conclusions are that current policies are failing in their main
objective, which is to reduce the demand and supply of illicit drugs,
and that they are a crucial factor in generating and
increasing harm to individual drug consumers, their direct surroundings
and society at large.
The authors of the report mentioned above have not been asked to produce
any recommendations. According to DCU representatives, the report [“does
not contain sufficient data to be called an evaluation”->article1999]. Thus, it seems
likely that the report, the result of one year of scientific research will
soon be
forgotten.
In 2007, upon the recommendation of the European Parliament, the European Commission installed the Civil Society Forum on Drug Policies in the European Union, in order to increase informal consultation and the input of civil society on drug-related activities, policy proposals, policy implementation and priorities of the EU Drugs Strategy. The Civil Society Forum has been organised three times since then, but participants have criticized the Commission for not allowing the CSF to discuss the impact of current policies and recommend alternatives.
From 8 to 12 March 2010, the next annual meeting of the [UN Commission
on Narcotic Drugs->http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND/index.html] will be held in Vienna, Austria. On this meeting, the
European Union representatives will defend common viewpoints on the
future course of global drug policies. We believe that it is of
essential importance that both civil society organisations and Members of the European Parliament discuss the conclusions of the Reuter-Trautmann report before the next CND meeting.
We have formally requested the European Commission to announce at least before January 15, 2010, whether it will organise the next session of the
Civil Society Forum before March 1st, 2010 and have asked the Members of the European Parliament to support this request. As we did not receive any response from the Commission, we decided to organise a Public Hearing in the European Parliament. The aim of the hearing would be to formulate
a set of recommendations concerning current drug policies and proposals
to adopt alternative schemes, that are based upon the experiences and
arguments brought forward by the participants.
PROGRAMME OF THE HEARING
10.00 – 12.00: Presentation of the Reuter-Trautmann report
Introductory speeches by Mr. Michail Tremopoulos, MEP, Mr. Carel Edwards, head of the Drugs Coordination Unit of the European Commission and Mr. Joep Oomen, ENCOD, followed by debate with the floor.
13.00 – 16.00: Roundtable with Members of European Parliament
Introductory speech: Mr. Frederick Polak, ENCOD
All participants are invited to give their feedback on the conclusions of the Reuter – Trautmann report and present their own input to the discussion on European drug policy. To this roundtable, various Members of European Parliament of the Committee on Civil Liberties will be invited to participate.
16.30 – 17.00: Press conference, presentation of the results of the hearing.
Registration to the hearing has been closed.
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
If you are not able to make it to Brussels on 23 February but would like to put a question or comment that should be dealt with during the hearing, please send it to info@encod.org
In the coming days, we will keep you informed with details on the agenda of this hearing.
MEDIA ON THE REUTER/TRAUTMANN REPORT
[The Guardian
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/11/un-drug-strategy http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6611268.html]
[European Voice
>http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/03/use-of-cocaine-increases-across-europe/64246.aspx]
[EU Observer
>http://euobserver.com/9/27750]
[Xinhuanet
>http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/10/content_10987046.htm]
[CRI.CN
>http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/03/10/2041s462551.htm]
[Earth Times
>http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/259251,eu-sees-no-progress-on-global-drug-problem-in-past-decade.html]
[DI-VE.COM
>http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsId=58870&newscategory=31]
[Sofia Echo
>http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/03/10/687043_no-evidence-global-drug-problem-reduced-in-past-decade-ec-report]
[
Top News->http://www.topnews.in/eu-sees-no-progress-global-drug-problem-past-decade-2137924]
[
News24.com->http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2483130,00.html]
[
Monsters and Critics->http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1463838.php/EU_sees_no_progress_on_global_drug_problem_in_past_decade]
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