Split remains over drug deal ‘details’

Date: 05/12/1996

By Mark Turner

FRANCO-Dutch divisions over drugs policy appear as deep as ever, despite a supposed convergence of views at last week's meeting of justice ministers.

Although Irish Justice Minister Nora Owen claimed political agreement on a controversial joint action harmonising EU anti-drugs legislation after the meeting, diplomats are questioning how substantial that agreement really was.

Owen claimed that once a few details had been ironed out, the joint action would be agreed over the next two weeks without debate. But those 'details' are precisely the issues which caused so much difficulty for the hard-line French on the one hand and liberal Dutch on the other.

A spokesman for the ministry of justice in Paris said that no final decision had been taken yet on the compromise and she could not predict when that would happen.

The sticking point at the meeting was Dutch Justice Minister Winnie Sorgdrager's call for demand-side and supply-side approaches to the drugs trade to be separated.

The Netherlands was ready to accept legislative harmonisation to combat trafficking, but not in strategies to prevent users taking drugs. The Dutch fear that if this distinction is not made, their liberal policy towards 'coffee shops' - outlets for soft drugs - could be put under threat.

French Justice Minister Jacques Toubon argued that making such a distinction would take any sting out of the text and amount to political toleration of liberal Dutch policy. Given French President Jacques Chirac's assertions that the coffee-shop culture makes it considerably easier for narcotics traders to ply their wares throughout the EU, Toubon was bound to strongly oppose any watering down of the proposals.

He was supported to varying degrees by all other member states. Eventually, however, ministers agreed to a wording calling for more cooperation in the fight against drugs in general, but harmonising legislation only against drug trafficking.

This, in effect, marked a victory for Sorgdrager, but it is still far from clear whether it will be accepted by France. At the time, Toubon warned that he would have to take the text back to Paris for approval, and reports that he was reprimanded at home for not being tough enough in Brussels suggest the debate is far from over.

And since the Dutch only accepted the text ad referendum - meaning it needs approval by the country's national parliament - time constraints also suggest a decision might come later rather than sooner.

The Irish presidency maintains that the text should be formally agreed very shortly, arguing that Toubon would not have acted without full approval from his government. But some attach significance to the fact that the matter was not officially discussed by EU ambassadors at a meeting this week as originally planned.

“I would be surprised if there was agreement on this by the end of the Irish presidency,” said one official.

“Both sides have deeply entrenched positions now; the more they talk about drugs the deeper the trenches become,” commented another.