14 Drugs Action Plan 2005-08
| (26382)
6464/05
COM(05) 45
+ ADD 1
| Commission Communication on an EU Drugs Action Plan (2005-08)
Annex: Impact Assessment of the Action Plan
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 14 February 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament | 22 February 2005
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | EM of 9 March 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (26153) 15074/04: HC 38-i (2004-05), para 31 (1 December 2004)
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| To be discussed in Council | June 2005
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared, but further information requested
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Background
14.1 In preparation for the expiry of the EU Drugs Strategy 2000-04,
in autumn last year the Commission presented a Drugs Strategy
for 2005-12. We cleared the document in December.[47]
The European Council adopted the Strategy at its meeting later
that month.[48]
The document
14.2 The document is the Commission's first draft of a Drugs Action
Plan for 2005-08. It proposes specific actions to give effect
to the Drugs Strategy. (An Action Plan for 2009-12 will be prepared
nearer the time.)
14.3 The Annex to the document (ADD 1) contains the
Commission's assessment of the options available to achieve the
objectives of reducing the prevalence of drug use in the EU and
reducing the social harm and damage to health caused by the use
of drugs. The options assessed were: leave action exclusively
to Member States; renew the Action Plan for 2000-04 for another
five years; present a new Action Plan based on the Drugs Strategy
for 2005-12; or propose a new EU policy on drugs. The Annex concludes
that the third option — a new Action Plan for 2005-08 —
is to be preferred and gives reasons for the conclusion.
14.4 The draft Action Plan proposes action under
the following five headings, which correspond with the headings
of the Drugs Strategy:
- coordination;
- reduction of demand;
- supply reduction;
- international cooperation; and
- information, research and evaluation.
14.5 The draft proposes 45 specific actions. In accordance
with the Drugs Strategy, the draft Action Plan specifies not only
the aim and action proposed but also the timetable for the work,
who is to be responsible for it (for example, the Member States,
the European Centre for Monitoring Drugs and Drug Addiction, or
Europol), and how performance of the action is to be measured.
For instance, item 19 of the draft Plan proposes :
- aim — targeting money
laundering in relation to drug crime;
- action — to implement joint operational
projects;
- timetable for action — on-going;
- responsibility for the action — the Member
States, Europol and Eurojust; and
- measure of performance — the number of
projects initiated or completed; and drug-related cash flows detected
and disrupted.
The Government's view
14.6 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at
the Home Office (Caroline Flint) tells us that Member States have
been asked to make written comments on the draft Action Plan before
it is discussed in a working group. She says that the Government
broadly welcomes the document, which should provide a good starting
point for further negotiation.
14.7 The Minister says that:
"we believe it is very important to set
out comprehensively the actions we want to see completed, clear
deadlines for doing so, those responsible for seeing actions through,
the outcomes we want to see, as well as proper mechanisms for
evaluating the results. The document should make these actions
and deadlines very specific and, where possible, set them within
a structured cycle of delivery and review. The Plan must act as
a clear guide in setting the agendas for forthcoming Presidencies."
14.8 The Minister tells us that the Government wants
to see more flexible use made of EU working structures by using
the Action Plan to apportion responsibility to specific working
groups. She adds that:
"In particular, the Government will argue
that the plan should bring the function of the Horizontal Drugs
Group into much clearer focus, giving it the role of delivering
the Action Plan."
14.9 The Presidency expects the Action Plan to be
presented for agreement at the June meeting of the Justice and
Home Affairs Council.
Conclusion
14.10 We welcomed the pragmatic and results-oriented
approach of the Drugs Strategy for 2005-12. In our view, the draft
Action Plan for 2005-08 reflects this approach and the substance
of the proposed actions is consistent with the Strategy. We recognise
that the document is a first draft and we expect, therefore, that
it will be amended and improved before a text is ready for consideration
by the Council in June. We share the Minister's view about the
importance of clear specification of aims, actions, timescales,
responsibilities and mechanisms for evaluating results. So we
hope, for example, that the specification of item 19 (money laundering
in relation to drug crime) will be improved: the number of projects
initiated or completed appears to us to be a measure of activity
rather than of the achievement of the aim.
14.11 When we considered the Drugs Strategy in
December, we noted that it called for consistent national policies
on the prosecution of drug-related crime. We asked the Minister
how this might affect prosecution discretion. She assured us that
the discretion of the UK's courts would not be affected. Nevertheless,
we are glad to see that the first draft of the Action plan contains
no reference to national prosecution policies.
14.12 There are no questions we need put to the
Minister about the draft Plan. We should be grateful, however,
if she would provide us with a copy of the Government's comments
on the draft when they are sent to the Commission. We expect
a revised text of the Plan to be prepared for submission to the
Council in June and we are content to clear the current draft
from scrutiny.
47 See headnote. Back
48
Conclusion 37 of the European Council meeting on 16/17 December
2004. Back
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